The Mark
by JennaUtena
Summary: And so he read the glyphs. "A messenger shall come three times and bear witness to the claim of the mark of the king. On the fourth occasion, the rightful ruler shall reclaim the burning crown and his sigil of hatred and take what is as his right of conquest. Long reign the Dread King. Long reign Pariah Dark." If only the Disasteroid were their last problem.
1. The Calm

**(Correction. There were discrepancies with the timeline so I changed a few dates. That was all. I'll update by Wednesday for the next chapter. Thanks for reading!)**

 **A/N:**

 **Here we go. Again. First chapter of new story. Hopefully this story will be less Danny-bashing than my other fic Jump Start but I hope you guys like it!**

 **With just a little further a do, here's the first chapter of The Mark! Not beta'ed by Night for now because she has an 8 o'clock class tomorrow and insomnia so she should be struggling to sleep right now!**

 **Disclaimer: Why must you torture me?**

* * *

"Congratulations, sweetie!" The Fenton matriarch exclaimed, squeezing her son in an inescapable embrace.

"Good job, Danny-boy!" Her husband shouted, bear-hugging both wife and son and lifting them off of the ground.

"I knew you could do it, little brother," the daughter affirmed, patting him on the little part of his back that showed from under their father's gargantuan arms.

"I'm not surprised, Mr. Fenton. You were always exceedingly bright considering the circumstances," commented the overweight balding teacher.

"Dude, I thought for sure you were gonna fail!" The friend laughed, followed by an "oomph!" from being elbowed in the ribs by his girlfriend.

"Shut it, Foley!" She seethed, then turned to the girl to her left. "You better get your man before someone else does, girl!"

"Fine, Val," another girl blushed and approached the boy who was promptly dropped by his father.

"Uhhn," he groaned from the floor, rubbing his behind.

"Need a hand?" She giggled, offering him help.

"Thanks, Sam," he acquiesced.

It was May of the now Quad's—with Valerie included—high school sophomore year, one month after the Disasteroid. His parents knew. His English teacher, math teacher, and vice principal all-in-one knew. His ex-girlfriend and past sworn human arch-nemesis now friend and fellow defender knew. His halfa secret wasn't a secret to those who mattered in his life anymore and Vlad was finally out of their lives.

But today heralded the best day of the collected group's lives. Today, celebrations and revelry where absolutely necessary for the impossible happened. Yes, today was the day the Daniel James "Danny" Fenton, a.k.a. Danny Phantom, passed sophomore year with a 3.32 GPA.

* * *

The Nasty Burger had seen a drastic increase in traffic this season mainly because it was summer and all the youth of Amity Park were free to run around without the burden of immediate homework due the next day or even the next week. They had two months to do summer assignments and most wouldn't get started until the last week of break. So what was the point? And the Nasty Burger Menu had seen a radical change in its Nasty Sauce when advised by a secret group of the more than probable explosive properties of the large vats of the compound. Speaking about a secret group, a particular group of four friends were currently taking advantage of this easily accessible and inexpensive...a.k.a. dirt cheap...fast food place.

Sitting outside, covered by the shade of a nearby shadow, the Freak Quad hung out, laughing excessively at jokes and mostly the physical pain Sam was dealing out to Tucker when he wouldn't shut up.

"Jeez, Danny," Tucker joked. "Who knew you had such a big head?" He pointed to the statue they were lying near, which portrayed Danny Phantom holding the world in commemoration of him saving Earth from total annihilation.

Danny cut his friend a glare, saying, "It's not my fault they decided to glorify me...Seriously, these statues are in every continent at least 5 times. Why does Amity have to have one on every street corner?" The statue should have been a big up to Danny's ego but he was humble and didn't completely appreciate their gaudiness.

"Dude, Amity's got like at least 50 of them!" Tucker would have continued to badger Danny if Tuck's girlfriend hadn't decided to take his PDA away as punishment.

Over the cries of "No! Not Christiana!", Valerie said, "Chill. It's the best they, _we_ , can do to show that _stupid ghost boy..._ I mean you...our appreciation...Getting used to your _halfie_ status is weird..."

"It's _halfa_ ," Sam corrected automatically, smiling sadistically at Tucker's dismay. "And, yeah, Danny. At least they're not offering a mass funeral or a world-wide fiasco to reunite you with your parents." She looked at him, pointedly referring to the possible outcome of an event last week.

Danny cringed at the idea. "Yeah, that slip last week was pretty heinous."

The so-called "slip" happened during a flight Danny decided to take on Wednesday after a particularly strenuous last day of finals. He landed at an isolated park where, unfortunately, the Channel 5 News crew was about to set up to interview a new eatery badly named the "Boo-kery". Because they were no longer questioning whether or not he was malevolent, they bombarded him as soon as he was spotted for an interview. In the excitement, Danny had temporarily forgotten about his ghost powers and slightly cowered. At seeing his distress, the main reporter told him they would let him go if they asked a few questions.

Of course, when Danny said yes, they questioned him from every possible angle, not giving the ghost boy even an inch of space.

"What's your name?"

"Danny Phantom."

"Were you alive?"

"Yes."

"Did you live in Amity?"

"Yes."

"How old are you...both living and dead?"

"Total...15, almost 16 years."

"Wow, you're so young...Any love interests?"

"Wha-whatnoofcoursenot!" They stared at him more than necessary until he admitted, "Yeah."

"What's her name?" In the back a "or his name?" could be heard.

"That's not really your business right now...and she's definitely a she."

"Do you see your family often?"

"Almost every day."

"In the Ghost Zone?"

"No, they're still alive." The questions stopped after that and it took a while for Danny to realize his mistake. All of the people crowding him were shocked. Some had tears threatening to come out and the main reporter looking like she had just won the mega-million dollar jackpot.

"Where are they? Who are they? What do they do? Do they know you're you? Are they the reason you couldn't rest? Do you blame them for your death? How recently did you die? Why haven't we seen a picture or heard of a young boy dying recently that could be you?" She wouldn't let up and, while the others kind of thought this breached some barriers of common morality, they were too curious to find out the truth.

All of a sudden, Danny's awareness of his ghost powers came back when she leaned in closer, pointed the microphone in his face, and expeditiously listed the questions. Throwing them all a smirk, Danny said, "Sorry, but that's all I have for you today," and rocketed up into the sky.

The entire interview had been playing since then and it was already the next week's Wednesday.

"Is there so little happening in Amity Park that they have to play that...that monstrosity over and over again?" Danny was sick and tired of it. His friends and family, especially Maddie and Jack, loved it. After the big reveal, including all main and side stories, his parents felt very estranged from their son and took any chance they could to bond with him. It annoyed Danny at first since they were so clingy, but Jazz explained and he understood that they were just trying to catch up on the years they had missed.

"Well, it's not like anything exciting's happened here since a month ago," admitted Val, a bit peeved.

The ghost "appearances", and no longer "attacks", whittled down the month after the Disasteroid threatened to hit. In the first month, the Box Ghost came almost every hour on the hour, most of the time with Imogen, which was the Lunch Lady's real name. He was pretty peaceful since Imogen wouldn't let him fight while they were on dates to the Human World. "Eeeewwww," was constantly heard around the world. Skulker came twice a week to "hunt" Danny and then decided to put his stubbornness aside and form a truce with the young whelp. Klemper visited in search of new friends whom he found in members of Inuit tribes who didn't mind his company. Ember came around every now and then to jam and give Danny guitar and piano lessons. She was surprisingly well-versed in classical music. Frostbite came a couple of times to discuss science with Danny's parents and made many almost unbearably hot summer days cool. Pandora came and, after frightening many people, taught interested humans about her ancient Greece and which legends were true or not. She soon left though to see what her Greece looked like now. Even Wulf came by and freaked out Danny's parents immensely. But the werewolf ghost soon warmed up to the family and he and Jack became best buds.

After Ghost Writer had witnessed Danny's greatness, he got Danny's permission to write an epic poem about him that would "rival the _Iliad_ ". This bonded them immensely and ensured no more wackadoodle literature curses. Desiree showed up once and started a fight, during which the real reason of her hatred for others was unearthed: her inability to grant her own wishes while being forced to bring others' into fruition. Danny said that was an easy fix and wished for her to not have to grant wishes anymore but be able to choose and use her power to live her afterlife as peacefully as she pleased. She scolded him, saying that it wouldn't be so easy. He tested her to wish for something and she wished for a golden crown, reminiscent of one she had seen as a living child. In a swirl of shining green and blue, the immaculate circlet appeared, enticing glowing tears from the genie ghost's eyes. When asked by Danny if she was okay, she sniffed haughtily and told him that he had just made her more powerful and he would regret it deeply. He tensed for a fight but was pleasantly surprised when she summoned a portal to the Ghost Zone and mumbled that she guessed she should thank him.

Random ghosts he had met briefly before and those that had heard of him visited as well. Amorpho showed up one day to do some harmless pranks. Poindexter was a keynote speaker for an anti-bullying conference. Cujo came almost every day to play freely with the humans of Amity who were only slightly afraid of the ghost dog in puppy form but still scared senseless when he was in full demon dog mode. A few literature, specifically Stephen King, fans thought he was appropriately named. And the dog did get to make up with Damon Gray and his daughter Valerie; through this, he had gained a new, however reluctant, female playmate. Even Danielle visited and was introduced to all of Danny's friends and family since they only got her name and a fake backstory and Valerie already knew about the little clone. She had been given the guest room as a permanent room and, by Jack and Maddie's insistence, become an official member of the Fenton family. She was to be home-schooled over the summer so she could be ready for freshman year in August.

Clockwork, the ever slightly creepy, riddle-making, random, all-powerful time master had shown once to congratulate Danny on matriculating to his junior year successfully, eliminating the ectoranium threat, and successfully avoiding any possible Dan future. The last had come as a shock to all, especially Danny, since they thought Dan's chance of existence had come and gone. But Clockwork's reassurance that he could see nothing immensely negative in the near future had greatly relieved Danny. After all, Clockwork was the only godfather that Danny actually liked and he was welcome openly to the family. Jack and Maddie learned much from him and, at the embarrassment of Danny, had discerned several research possibilities.

The best things of all, during that month after the Disasteroid, that allowed all of the ghosts to visit was, one, Vlad's absence and, two, the total disbanding and complete destruction of the GIW. President Hartman and many representatives of the EU had detested the group after a ghost boy had saved the world and they still claimed him to be an evil entity focused on world domination and the eradication of mankind. After an investigation was conducted of the GIW and their operations uncovered, there wasn't a single government on Earth that publicly wanted them in their borders. This left Danny Phantom, the Fenton scientists, the Red Huntress, and a few less equipped ghost hunters as ambassadors between the humans and ghosts. The relationships between the two groups ameliorated so fast through Danny's leadership that many were wondering why they hadn't tried that approach earlier.

But something had changed near the end of May. Less ghosts started coming through the Fenton's and natural portals. Vlad's was already shut down and no one could pinpoint the reason they weren't coming as often as usual until Danny asked the Box Ghost who had only showed his face three times that last week.

"Do you FEEEAAARRR me not being here MOOORREEE than the BOOOOXX GHOOOSSTTT being here?!" The entitled specter exclaimed, annoying the masses as he waved his arms to and fro, still trying to be menacing.

"No, Boxy," Danny said, floating upside down, hair slightly obstructing the view of the blue ghost. "We were just wondering what was happening on the other side."

"Well, if you must know," Box Ghost seriously whispered, making Danny float closer with his ear out. "THE INHABITANTS OF THE GHOST ZONE are going under reform now that no threats affect our existence...BEWARE!" He yelled exaggeratedly, making Danny cringe and his ears ring, before flying off into the distance.

In May, no ghosts appeared, not even Cujo. Danny had thought about talking to Clockwork about it, but remembered his reassurance the previous month and just hoped to see everyone later. Valerie heavily missed having a reason to go out on her hoverboard and use her suit, which had been further modified by a collaboration of Technus, Tucker, and the Fentons...mostly Jack because he thought it was "super coolio"...Technus had indeed rubbed off on him. Jack and Maddie, along with others in their field, had worried about the absences as well, mostly because it meant less pure samples of ectoplasm but also for the recent friendships and acquaintanceships they had made.

This left Danny, Sam who was his girlfriend, Tuck, and Valerie who was Tuck's girlfriend free all of May and the beginning of June. The free time allotted the teenagers to make up precious study time with the help of Lancer, Jazz, and the Fenton adults. They had all matriculated surprisingly—for Danny—with GPA's greater than 3.0 with Danny bringing up the rear.

"Cool it, Val," Tucker gasped, cradling his snatched PDA in his hands and easing his breath from the chase. "It's not like we ease up on the daily torture, I mean, _training_ anyway!"

The group had been increasing their stamina, endurance, aim, and muscle mass under the supervision of the Fentons, mostly Maddie since she was a 9th degree black belt. They went through combat drills. They sparred. They learned how to fire arms and produce makeshift weapons. They even were taught some of the basic physical science of ectoplasm and entities made up of such. Surprisingly, it was Danny who understood most of the science aspect the best. He chalked it up to his own knowledge of his body and powers.

Speaking of Danny, he had been teaching Danielle how to control her powers better and they were working on whether or not being his clone meant that she had the same abilities. It turned out that, even though she had the same ectoplasmic and human DNA, she did not have an ice core nor the ability to wail. But she was able to teleport easier than Danny and create Dani holograms that were like stationary, intangible clones of herself. This unique power of hers affirmed her confidence and individuality. She finally had an identity but was still under the moniker of "Dani". When she expressed this to the family, they told her it was an easy fix; she just had to change her name. After thinking about it for a few days, she decided to name herself Phoebe after the character from a summer reading assignment from the book _The Catcher in the Rye._

"Speaking of which, TF," Val purred, "you sure have gotten better." She was right. In fact, they all had physically changed drastically. Tucker was no longer as wimpy but now stood at 5 foot 11, much to his consternation at barely missing 6 feet. He had gained significant muscle mass that had made him buy new clothing, but he stuck to the same yellow-shirt and camouflage-green cargo pants. And he definitely didn't forget the red beret even though he decided to grow his hair out in dreads. Valerie had slimmed down a bit and grown to 5 foot 8, maintaining her curves but gaining more lean muscle which allowed her to fit more weapons in her suit. Her style had changed a bit to reflect her boyfriend's. Her shirts were still yellow but she ditched the orange skirt for a red one that he said reminded his of his favorite accessory. She kept her long wavy hair which was somehow her natural hair texture even after she got it wet.

"Lovebirds," Sam cried out loud, drawing blushes out of the African-Americans. She had grown a little but stopped stubbornly at 5 foot 6. Her height change and the insistence of her parents and encouragement of her grandmother made her change her clothing as well. She now wore more blues and greens in her attire. Today, she had on a neon green tank top with purple trim and black leather pants that somehow did not make her sweat. To this she would replay, "I'm goth. We don't sweat. We simmer." And she would never get rid of her steel-toed combat boots which added two inches to her height. But she did change her punk ponytail and allowed her hair to fall down. It was just above shoulder length now that she had decided to grow it out.

Danny guffawed at his other friends' torment and squeezed Sam's hand a bit tighter. He had changed most of all. Wimpy little Danny Fenton now towered over them all at a staggering 6 foot 3, mirroring his father's side of the family even though he hadn't reached the giant's 6 foot 8...yet. His ebony hair was as messy as ever but had grown a bit; he refused to get it cut even when the newly-deemed Phoebe threatened that she would chop it all off in his sleep. He didn't bulk up like they expected him to but instead gained the lean muscle his mother's side of the family was known for having...expect for Aunt Felicia in Arkansas...but the growth spurt had made a new wardrobe absolutely necessary. Of course, Sam, Maddie, Valerie, Jazz, and even Phoebe jumped at the chance—and at Danny—to drag him to different stores for an impromptu fashion show. After six grueling hours of being dragged from store to store, dressing room to dressing room, and kiosk to kiosk, Danny had finally chosen a new wardrobe that would placate the females' excitement. He mostly had darker colors to complement Sam and bring out the oddly unnameable, bright blue of his eyes. He insisted that the jeans were a must but now had on less baggy ones. Most of his shirts referenced nerdy topics and a few were differently styled Phantom shirts just for giggles. But he really like the three-quarter sleeve shirts which were mostly a deep red or ocean blue with black accents. He kept his lucky and very battered red converse and bought two other pairs of the same design except one pair was black and the other blue.

Nevertheless, even with the physical changes, the groups' mentality never changed. They were still best friends...family...Team Phantom. And nothing nor no one could tear them apart. There was no force on Earth that could get in the way of their bonds...but the Ghost Zone may have been a completely different matter.

* * *

As the youths and adults of Amity delighted in the summer season, the Ghost Zone was as quiet as an empty grave. From the lands near the Fenton Portal where green and purple swirled equally in the sky to the ancient zones where darkness was so thick it was tangible, no being made a noise. Nothing but island or random rock was seen floating in the vast expanse of the Infinite Realms. No dragon ghosts fought. No rocker spirits partied. No ghosts were out but instead all hid, trembling, quaking in fear. Territories reinforced their borders and loner ghosts fled their residences. A great clock tower stood in near empty space; its wear and tear more noticeable now and still smoldering from a recent attack. The old guardian was chained in a cell in his own home confused as to how he could not have seen what was to be and how he had been defeated too easily. He spoke no words but thought into the distance an apology at a certain young boy he had come to know.

In a certain ghostly lair far away which had darkness rolling off of it like living shadows, a sole ghost kneeled in a hall decorated in dark purples, blacks, and greens. Ghostly flames flickered from the sconces situated on supporting pillars in the room. An old hand rose from a sitting figure on the throne, pointing towards the kneeling spirit.

"As you have commanded, my Lord," he acquiesced and quickly flew out of the hall to his business blowing out the remnants of the flames lining his path.

All that could be seen in the darkness was one sole glowing eye radiating a bright, hateful, neon green.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **And hopefully all of my chapters will be about this size and not 8K word blockbusters that make me want to procrastinate on this story! More to come in about two weeks; so be patient, peruse other fanfics, and do work-work or homework while you wait and be good productive citizens for the Overseer...I jumped on the Bethesda train a little late...**

 **And again, as the symbol of our friendship and the first chapter of a new story, here's a potato!**

 **Love, JennaUtena...Deuces!**


	2. The First Sight of Clouds

**A/N:**

 **I'm ba-a-ack! Thank you for those who followed and favorited (AmandaSkittles7, AwesomeAndy, DannyPhantomFanGirl1, Hopelessly Jonas Bro Obsessed, Kimera20, Lilith Jae, LunaraGK, Pterodactyl, Starlin's Ghost) and to those who read or reviewed or both! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!  
**

 **Disclaimer:...do...do I even have to include this?**

* * *

"Phoebe," a voice called as the girl continued to check her work on her test.

"...Phoebe," it called again, this time gaining the attention of the girl where she sat on the floor in her new family's living room.

"PHOEBE!" The woman behind the voice yelled.

"Oh," the girl remarked, remembering that that was her name. "Sorry, Maddie," she said as she rubbed the back of her neck with her left hand. One of the priorities of the day was to get Dani used to be called Phoebe while she was performing tasks; in this case, it was a test. She liked the name, especially because it meant bright, shining one...and it was Greek so Pandora loved it too. But the littlest Ghost Girl had gotten so used to being called Dani that she wouldn't respond to her new name nor tell people her name was Phoebe. Even when registering for school she put Danielle as her first name which had to be corrected later to Phoebe Danielle Fenton, her new name.

"Come on now, Dani," Maddie sighed for the umpteenth time at her adoptive daughter. "And I told you to call me 'mom'...that's what my children call me."

The two had a sweet heartfelt moment that would have had a studio audience chorus with cries of "aww". But it was abruptly interrupted by a tall teenager falling through the ceiling crying out, "Mom! Dani! I heard screaming. What's wrong?"

They turned towards the boy who, in his haste, had forgotten that he was clad only in Danny Phantom trademark loose boxers and had a toothbrush with minty residue half-sticking out of his mouth. The sight elicited giggles turning into full and hardy laughs of the two Fenton females. The Fenton male, on the other hand, raised his left eyebrow, humming in confusion. He looked down then, at what his clone was pointing, and eeped, covered himself, and turned invisible. Danny grumbled away the entire time.

"Just because they're bonding now, they think it's alright to laugh at me...I thought they were in serious danger!" Of course, a full-formed blush had formed on his face by the time he slammed the door to the upstairs bathroom. And with that he knew it was going to be a long summer.

* * *

"Ow!" Tucker screamed as he was elbowed in the stomach for the tenth time that day. "With you and the other two as company, I'll be more blue than black by the time we're twenty!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't laugh so heartily at other people's misfortune," Danny grumbled as the two walked through the streets of Amity, heading towards Sam's house.

"Misfortune?" The dreads not hidden under his cap shook as he attempted to contain his laughter. "Forgive me if I think that coming downstairs in my underwear that has my insignia on it to check on my mother and little sister a little funny." Tuck skipped over a lazy cat that balefully glared at him when they passed its path. "Why do you have Danny Phantom underwear anyway?"

Danny sighed, knowing that this line of questioning would end in snorts and laughter. He mumbled something under his breath, kicking a sizeable stone to avoid seeing Tucker's grin widen.

"I'm sorry. Didn't quite catch what you said," his supposed best friend goaded, ribbing him slightly as they turned on Sam's neighborhood where all the wealthiest of Amity Park resided.

Danny mumbled again, Tucker only catching a few words that sounded like "Fenton" and "special" and "grew".

His face was wide with mischief as he loudly told Danny, "One more time, man! Not all of us have super hearing you know!"

"I said that dad said that I'm a Fenton man, a special Fenton man, who should be proud of who he is. And because I'd grown so much I should have a pair with my face on it and not his but, before he could have them special ordered, he saw those at the mall and bought them and...and..."

"And what? What could possibly be worse than your dad picking out your underwear?" Tucker was downright giddy by now. Sam's house was in sight but neither were paying attention to it because of Danny's colossal embarrassment and Tuck's growing joy.

"…" He thought Danny wasn't going to answer but then saw his friend run his hand through his hair like he muster up his strength. So he waited...and, boy, was he well rewarded. "He got a matching pair for him and Phantom 'lingerie' for mom...it was on sale."

"It was o—! Matching! Oh my God, dude!" Tucker lost it, falling into a fit of laughter that made him miss Danny's face blush hotly and both hands grab the hair at the back of his neck. The dark young man kept laughing past the mansion of two of the Manson's neighbors until stopping at Sam's door with Danny a bit behind.

"S'not funny, man," Danny grumbled, growing ticked at his friend's happiness at his expense.

"No, it's not," Tucker admitted. "It's hilarious!" He kept laughing and would have continued still had the door in front of them not slammed open revealing Danny's girlfriend in all of her gothic glory. Said girl looked questioningly between the two boys before decided to smack Tucker in the head and pull Danny inside.

"Heard the hyena cackling all the way down by the Richardsons' house," Sam said as a greeting. She was still clad in sleepwear: a black lace tank and low riding white pants. Her hair was a bit mussed and her makeup nonexistent. But she still looked like the most gorgeous girl in the world to Danny.

"...he found out about the Phantom boxers and...other stuff," her boyfriend sulked but not as hard as before now that she was here.

"Ow, Sam," the offender whined after closing the door behind him "Why'd you have to hit so hard?"

She glared at Tucker in the least deadly way possible right now. "I enjoy bringing you pain, Foley."

"Thought that was my job," a voice wafted down the stairs, heavy with sleep.

"Val!" Yelling in joy, Tucker ran across the foyer and bounded up the stairs where his girlfriend waited. She looked about as bed ready as Sam did, dressed in a large yellow shirt that was probably Tucker's and baggy, red sweatpants. Her hair was wild and not brushed, her eyes half closed and not focused which resulted in her gasping when Tucker appeared in front of her suddenly and hugged and spun her around. She squealed at the sudden movement but couldn't retaliate before Tuck put her down.

"So what's all this about pain and why are you so happy?" It was only 8 o'clock in the morning and why anyone, especially, Tucker, was this invigorated on a summer day, she could not understand.

"It was nothing, my sweet, sweet Valerie," Tucker praised. "You, my lovely vision, have saved me from the evil that is Sam and we need not speak of it any further."

His girlfriend scoffed and turned to Sam who abruptly answered, "Phantom boxers." Valerie nodded her head in understanding before whacking Tucker in his side, making him cry out slightly.

"Why am I the punching bag of our group?" He whined while Danny's face got redder and questioned Sam, "You told her?"

Sam just patted his head and started to walk away. "It was juicy sleepover talk...that's what normal girls do, right? And it's not like we keep secrets around here anymore." He sighed again heavily at her while Tucker had the chance to rub his sore spots.

"Speaking of sleepovers," Tucker asked, "when can Danny and I, or just me, be invited?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I'm very entertaining."

"Nuh-uh, Foley," Valerie protested, throwing her hand in his face. "See, that right there is why you can't come. No one would get any sleeping done."

"Isn't that the point?" He cheekily asked, reaching in to tickle his girlfriend and getting a few squirms before getting smacked away.

"S'way too early to play, mister," Valerie scolded. "Sam," she called, prying Tucker off of her, "mind if I take a shower first?"

The other nodded and said, "We have plenty so go ahead and use the one next to my room."

"Mind if I help?" Tucker asked unashamed, making Valerie blush madly. "Eep!" He screamed when she brought her foot down hard on his boots. She stomped away, huffing, to get ready for the day while her boyfriend was left behind, nursing his wounds.

"Why must we have such violent girlfriends?" The question was pointed to Danny who knew better than to answer in any way but-

"It's not their fault that you're such a Tuck, Tuck."

Sam looked at him oddly, weighing the new insult in her head, before nodding assentingly. "'You're such a Tuck.' I think that'll work." They laughed while Tucker yelled at them in consternation before giving up. He would make sure they would rue that instance. All he needed was a bit of blackmail.

Sam headed up to her room and called, "You guys know where everything is so do your thing."

The two boys were left behind, Tucker sulking down the stairs while Danny grinned at him from below. Tuck just sighed and half-glared at the halfa who clapped his hand over his friend's shoulder in amusement as they headed to the kitchen to fix themselves and their girlfriends something to eat.

* * *

"I just don't understand why they find it necessary to assign us so much homework over the summer," Tucker grieved, walking backwards through the park to address the three following him. "I mean, I'm done, but still! Are the teachers trying to make our summer as boring and lame as their lives? Why must they torment us just because their lives suck?"

This rant was the same that had been reiterated every summer break since the original Trio had been given summer work. Sam and Danny knew it by heart and were mocking the other teen heartily and loudly. Tucker tried to ignore them and continue but Valerie joined in on the fun and he fumed, turning around to avoid them fully.

"Oh come on, boyfriend," Valerie soothed, knowing that calling Tuck that would make him happy. "We're just having fun. I'm just shocked you have all your work done." They all were, both shocked and done that is. Part of their early summer training was completing their summer assignments and getting a head start on next year's curriculum just in case a ghostly disaster occurred and they would have to miss school.

"I'm not that bad of a slacker," Tucker groaned, nearly tripping on an uncovered root as they walked away from the more populated area of the park and into the miniature forest.

"No, Danny's still holds the title belt for that," Sam joked.

Danny gasped in mock offense. "Why I never!" He came away from Sam's side in play hurt. "Should I remind you, lest you forget, that I was the one who raised his GPA the most and finished his assignments the earliest?"

"Only because your mom and Lancer were hot on your butt!" Valerie yelled over her and Sam's scoffing laughter.

The four friends hiked their way through the dense trees until the foliage began to thin to a small clearing with a creak slowly flowing through its middle. This had been their hang out after the Disasteroid fiasco since they needed a place to meet in private where they could train without massive news crews stalking Phantom and his human friends. Even though the rest of the living population didn't know Danny was Phantom, enough people had paid attention to see that wherever the four showed up, Phantom was soon to follow.

But there was to be no training today. Today was a chill day. The weather was just right, hot enough for shorts and tanks but having a small breeze to stop heavy sweating. A very small amount of wispy clouds dotted the sky. And, best of all, or most worrying for Danny, the Fenton Ectometer that his parents installed in City Hall to read all fluctuating ectoplasm levels in the area had been at a record low of 0.3 for the past 24 hours. Of course, that worry was more pronounced the more secluded the four got.

"You've nothing to worry about, Great One," Tucker mocked, using Danny's dislike of his title from the ghosts of the Far Frozen to distract him from his budding fear. It didn't work, though. All it did was make Danny's fears more pronounced and make him worry about the recently absent ghosts.

"Yeah, D," Valerie sighed, selecting a large rock to sit on. "You of all people should be grateful that no ghosts have shown up as of late." She was really grateful. Her reputation as the Red Huntress made for strained relationships with the ghosts that became allies and friends after the Disasteroid. While some were warming up to her, it was still odd to break bread with beings whom you once hunted and who hunted you.

"I know. I know," Danny repeated, unable to get that sixth sense to shut down even though it was fraying his nerves to weak strands.

"I know what'll get your mind off of ghosts," Sam volunteered, forcing the rest to look at her before answering. "Road. Trip."

"Yes!" Tucker yipped, excited that this would be the first trip in which they could drive...legally and not have to steal the Fenton Ops Center...just borrow. "And I know the first Comic Con we should visit—"

"Hold it, meat-lover," Sam interrupted, "I was thinking more on the Gothapalooza path."

"Of course you were, Queen of All That Is Dark and Morose," Tucker droned, gaining a glare and the preparation of a long and detailed argument from said woman about the benefits of going to her event and not his. Both were interrupted by a confused Valerie.

"I've a feeling that this is some giant inside joke in which Danny should butt in and say you should go to the Kennedy Space Center instead of sulking despondently while skipping rocks," she commented, a bit left out on the joke and growing worried about Danny's stagnant mood.

The two bickering old friends pulled out of their argument and looked at each other before sighing and playing rock-paper-scissors. When Tucker ultimately lost for the fiftieth time that month—he counted—he went over to Danny and, without any warning, pushed the boy hard enough to knock him straight into the water.

"What the—?" Danny said as he finally resurfaced, seeing Tucker laughing at him once more joined by Valerie and the smiling face of Sam who eventually lent him a hand. "I should toss you in there Tuck...and hold you there." Even with the threat, he did appreciate his friends pulling him out of his funk. There was nothing to worry about. Everything was fantastic. It was like the television show that starred their lives was finally over and they could relax without thousands if not millions of people were watching them...even after the attention garnered in the last few months.

"You can try, Fenton," Tucker laughed, shaking his finger at his longest guy friend. "You can try."

"Get your panties out of a twist, Danny," Valerie commanded as she spread out on the rock, facing the sun. "There's little need to worry. The new and improved Team Phantom'll get any job done and any wayward specter corralled if we're ever needed to fight again."

Sam joined her, though in a slightly more shady part where the rock protected her from most of the sun's harsh beams. "Yeah, sit down and relax, _Ghost Boy_."

He chuckled at the nickname, finally getting over the embarrassment that caused him to blush every time she would call him that. But he was stopped by his phone going off, effectively turning his mood to curiosity with a bit of wariness. It was the ringtone he had for Dani and she never called unless she thought it was important. Life or death important.

"Chill, dude," Tucker laughed, pointing at the frown that was forming slowly on Danny's face. "She's your sister. Of course she's gonna call. It's not like another invasion's about to happen...or the Disasteroid had friends...or Vlad's back."

At every scenario ticked off, Danny increasingly flinched harder, Sam's face grew darker, and the force with which Valerie contemplated hitting her boyfriend grew. It wasn't domestic abuse; the boy just needed some sense knocked into him about jinxing other people.

"Ow!" Tuck rubbed the offending sore part on his arm where Valerie had snuck up to him and hit him squarely.

"Shut up, stupid! There's a reason we call you 'Bad Luck Tuck'!"

He froze, remembering all of his past jinxes, and chuckled timidly. "There's no way, guys..." When no one peeped up to answer him or look at him, he continued, "Right? Guys?"

Danny stared at the phone in his hand and looked up to see Sam motioning him to answer it while Valerie scolded Tucker. He slid the phone icon and held the device to his ear only to hear static and muffled talk in the background.

"Dani?" He asked cautiously before yanking it away from his face as a piercing screech came through the audio.

"DANNY! I did it. I did it. I did it. I did it!" Dani speedily yelled at the other end, probably jumping up and down, or flying in loops, in joy.

"Did what?" Danny was highly confused now. The dichotomy of the bad news he was thinking he was going to get and the excited cheers of his little sister sharply broke any thought process forming in his head.

"I finally answered to 'Phoebe'! Mad-I mean mom tried to get me to do it all morning but I couldn't really do it until Ja-Dad helped me! Dude, I love your parents!"

" _Our_ parents, little D. Our parents," he reminded her as a smile grew on his face. If there were any major thing he was worried about now, it would be his clone. He felt responsible for her, even though her existence wasn't necessarily his fault, and made it his mission to provide for her. Unfortunately he was yet 18 and couldn't get a steady job if he tried. Fortunately, he had a big family with even bigger hearts who were more than happy to help after everyone's secrets had been placed in the light.

"Yeah," she whispered as Danny could picture her calming down and blushing just like his friends and family says he does. " _Our_ parents."

He waited a few seconds before asking, "Is that what you called for?"

"Huh? Oh, no! I just wanted to tell you that...Mom and Dad went out a while ago and they won't be back until around 9 so it's up to you, me, and Jazz to cook or call out for dinner."

"Okay," Danny answered, relieved and calmed now that he knew everything was alright. The two said goodbye with Danny saying he loved her and Dani sputtering something that sounded like a 'love you, too' paired with a 'doofus' and hung up.

"Everything a-okay in the Fenton residence?" Sam asked as Danny walked over to sit next her. He nodded and the rest sighed in belief, fully convinced that Clockwork was looking out for them all if the curse of bad luck that rested on their heads was not activated.

So they went back to talking and joking around about any and everything they could. The idea of a road trip without the looming threat of a massive ghost invasion plaguing them was starting to become a reality. They figured they would drive to one coast then the other and then back and make the trip last about two weeks. Val's dad would be okay with it as long as she checked in twice a day. Tucker's parents would be so excited their boy was doing something without his tech and probably pack his bags for him. Sam would somehow convince her parents and end up compromising by wearing something pink and floral for her mother while her grandmother would encourage her in the background. Danny's parents would just smile and tell him to call when he got back. They probably would be highly concerned on the inside but, with the recent reveal of heightened responsibilities and powers of their only son, they knew he would be alright.

The plan was starting to form quite nicely, they all thought. This summer was promising to be fun. And when the sun started to set and a darkness surrounded Amity, the four teens had the details worked out to a T and were headed home together. It was around 7:40 when they turned down a main thoroughfare and Danny's phone went off. The sudden alarm slightly startled the group until Valerie's wristwatch went off. Sam's phone went off immediately after. At the end, Tucker's PDA went off, too, and started flashing a neon green ghost and a bright red 'BOO!' at the bottom.

"Uhhh...," Tucker started, "guys, is this—?"

"Shhh!" Sam motioned, quieting Tucker before he could by proxy ruin their fun. Before the alarms could clear, Danny's ringtone sounded and his phone showed that his mother was calling him.

He picked up without hesitation and received, "So your alarms went off, I figure." It was his mother, not jolly and loving but stoic and serious. After he grunted in confirmation, she continued, "Good, then. The system's working." She must have gone away from the phone for a second as she yelled because it sounded muffled to Danny. "Jack, put that down! Whatever caused this is obviously gone now." She waited while Danny could hear his father yelling incoherently in the background. "Just collect some samples and take readings until Daniel gets here." His mother never called him that unless he was in trouble or someone was in danger.

He steeled himself for the worse and asked, "Mom, where are you?" At his tone, the others stopped whispering and sobered up, readying themselves to head off wherever Mrs. Fenton and presumably Mr. Fenton were.

"Almost a block East of City Hall...it was less than fifty feet away! How could it have not registered anything?" Her tone was growing more frustrated as she barked orders to some unseen helpers on her side of the conversation, telling them to block off the area and advise local businesses to relocate or play it safe until they found out what was going on. "How soon can you get here?"

"Less than two minutes," he answered flatly before glancing around and changing into Phantom when he saw and sensed no one but his friends. He hung up on her, knowing she was too busy to answer back fully focused, and told the rest where they were headed.

Valerie quickly activated her suit and Tucker his magnetic boots before hopping on her board. Sam went to Danny and he held an arm around her waist to fly. All while they were getting ready, Tuck muttered, "Why can't I just keep my big mouth shut? We could've had a fun summer but no-o-oh, I had to say something."

Sam tried to ask Danny what exactly was going on before he interrupted her and answered, "I don't know," his voice tightening.

 _But I'm going to find out._

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Yep, that's where it'll end today. I'm satisfied with the length and'll probably keep the chapters this long. I'm thinking the fic'll be around 20 chapters or more at this length.**

 **Replies to Reviewers:**

 **Starlin's Ghost: Thank you for that! I didn't want the story to be too cartoonish and a bit more realistic...if that's even possible for anything not AU involving Danny Phantom. With the name, I always thought that if I were someone's clone, I wouldn't want to be named after them...even if our genders differed I would want some disjoint in our identities.**

 **Guest: Thanks!**

 **Lilith Jae: Yes...yes, I did :P. Thank you for the compliments and I'll try to keep Danny away from God-like power level but he will get better. I hope I get that cookie soon!**

 **Thank you again to everyone who took a chance on me and this fic! Here are more potatoes...there's a pattern if you hadn't noticed. I've got a serious potato love, guys.**

 **Antyways! I'll soo you all soon. Love, JennaUtena. Deuces!**


	3. Thunder and Lightning

**A/N:**

 **Hello again! I hope you all will like this next chapter because I am lazy and it did not want to be written. And I'm on a Courage the Cowardly Dog kick...creepy stuff does happen in the middle of nowhere and that show was highly unnerving!**

 **Disclaimer: If I ever own Danny Phantom, I will immediately tell you all, there will be a cartoon remake, a live-action show, and consecutive movies. I will bring in all the big DP fanfictioners for this...we should do that anyway. Somebody should start a FundMe for it.**

* * *

They approached the scene to find it crowded by men and women organizing evidence and blocking off the streets. Somehow, the news reporters caught wind of something including the Fentons and appeared at the site, reporting just their speculations since neither Dr. Fenton would give a statement and they would not let anyone down the alleyway that was the focal point of their consternation. As soon as Danny and crew arrived, Tiffany Snow, in the midst of the cloud of reporters, spotted the teenagers and clamored up to them, rattling off questions faster than most could register, hoping that since they were yet adults, they could be persuaded—tricked—into giving out some information. Much to her annoyance, however, she was thoroughly ignored by all four, only given a rapid wave to the camera and a quick "Hi, Mom!" from Tucker.

Danny took the lead and approached his mother who stood in the full glory of her teal jumpsuit, glaring at the alleyway. He grasped her shoulder from behind, making her turn around. When she spotted them, her scowl turned into a wary and relieved smile. She looked tired, the kind of tired you get after a sudden anger leaves you. Danny hated seeing his mother this way but was too focused on the task at hand to put all of his effort into comforting her.

"Danny," she sighed, then looking at the rest, "glad you could make it." The tired snark only made the teens flinch in concern. "It seems a friendly decided to do some tagging," she continued, responding to their unanswered questions. "We cleared the way just in case any bogey radiation would have affected anyone. It's right down there." She pointed towards the entrance to the alley which, even in the oncoming twilight, looked darker and less welcoming than the area around it.

The four, with Danny at the helm, walked in the direction, trying to ignore the mass of spectators behind them wondering why a group of teenagers was allowed to see the sight they were barred from. Maddie, however, halted the following three saying, "There's a barrier back there that even Jack's new Ghost Smasher couldn't break. It's a nasty shock so we marked a safe zone with some hazard tape...be careful." They nodded and continued to follow Danny who could already sense the increase in ectoplasmic energy.

The longer they went down the alley, the colder and thicker the air seemed to be even though it was a midsummer evening. Whatever ghost that was here did not come here benevolently. The area sectioned off by the Fentons' helpers earlier was in clear view now. The tape was held by the buildings' sides forming the alley, about ten feet away from the back wall. At first, the disturbance was not clear to the group until Tucker took another step towards the barrier. An electric arc whipped across the air in front of them, making the teen jump back before he was shocked. Valerie immediately activated her suit's goggles and gasped, able to see the invisible shield.

"What is it?" Sam asked, wanting to see but not get shocked.

Valerie answered, "It's a field...and it's moving towards us, all of us but..."

"Me. But me," Danny finished, eyes glowing green as he too saw the field. It took up a rectangular space in front of them, snapping harshly at his completely human friends. It was a flaming green wall of energy that resembled fire more than pure energy. The wall filled the space in front of them and traveled as far as the buildings did. Danny bet that where it stopped vertically it continued back horizontally to seal off the top to form a box.

 _But Boxy couldn't do something like this so soon_ , Danny thought, cocking his head slightly, _and he wouldn't be so silent about it if he could._

"So...if it's not the Box Ghost," Tucker proposed, making Danny wonder whether he was thinking out loud again, "who do we know that could have done this?"

 _No one_ , they all thought together as they searched through their mental or electronic databases of active ghosts. Vlad was out of commission, banished to space and never heard from again. Dan was gone forever, his existence confirmed null by Clockwork. Desiree no longer worked for anyone she did not want to and, more times than not, she definitely did not. Wulf could only make portals, not shields. And none of the ghosts who could use fire like Skulker or Ember had powers like this.

 _So what do we do now?_ They had probably been in the alley for at least ten minutes and they had no inkling on what to do. Sam, Valerie, and Tucker could not get closer to the force as it repelled them physically and Danny did not want to touch it because he had a bad feeling about it. The flame was so familiar that he could not place where he had seen it before. And the whispers unnerved him too. He swore he could hear something, see something, beyond the wall of flames but he did not dare get closer in case it was a trap. It unnerved him how the others did not seem to notice what was going on but Sam caught on to his discomfort.

"Danny," she called, barely gaining his attention from the beckoning flames. "What's wrong?"

He did not answer for a while, physically having to tear his eyes from the sight in front of them. She was about to call for him again but he interrupted her. "I-I don't know. But I think...I think there's something on the other side."

This confused the humans who, without the special goggles that Valerie had put on, could only see the rest of the alleyway. Nothing much was there except for three brick walls and bit of forgotten trash and an unrecognizable stain or two. But something caught Valerie's eye after she disable her googles, a leaf, flimsy and thin, that was completely stationary the entire time they had stood there.

"Guys," she pointed to it, making Danny switch his eyes back to blue. "It hasn't moved at all." Sam's eyes widened in understanding while it took a while for Tucker to understand until his girlfriend continued. "Even with the slight breeze moving down here, it should move a little bit."

"And it should have a shadow, too," Tucker added, freaked out by the not-so IRL graphics happening in front of him. His gamer's eye caught all sorts of minute discrepancies in the image projected in front of them. It was like a still in a really good game that was almost Skyrim quality but glitches still existed. There were no shadows for anything at the dead end. Some of the balled pieces if trash looked exactly the same and all slightly out of focus. It wasn't real, whatever they were seeing, and that flaming wall was stopping them from seeing the truth.

Danny had again switched his eyes to a neon green, squinting and trying to focus past the wisping flames that had only grown more agitated as they stood there. In fact, they must have gotten close again as it decided to lash out at Tucker and Sam. The former let out a yelp, clearing the space and rubbing his wounded arm. The latter, on the other hand, gasped at the sudden jerk back by her boyfriend as he yanked her body a safe distance and held up his arm against the offending flame. But, instead of stinging him as it did Tucker, it stopped right at his hand. Travelling up and down the offered limb, it looked as if were searching for something. Danny kept still the entire time, transfixed by the almost loving way it circled around his arm, as the others grew out of their reverie.

"Danny!" Sam screamed as she started to pull her boyfriend away from the harmless slip of green fire. It must have taken offense to the action, however, as it glowed brighter and vibrated, deciding to clamp on Danny's arm and pull him into the mass before the girl could claim him. Too stunned to react, Danny didn't fight back, although his friends screamed, as he was pulled through the flaming wall of green.

They ripped past the tape and fought back against it, Valerie blasting with her suit, Tucker with an ecto-laser upgrade on his PDA, and Sam with a wrist ray and her specially made black and purple ectogun. The flames only flickered at the barrage, absorbing the attacks and letting the humans do as they pleased. Even when they fought with their fists banging against the force, the flames did not lash out as it had before. It was too focused on the task at hand, too immersed in the curiosity of the boy offered to it.

Danny, on the inside, could only see flame and darkness. His eyes and senses warred with him as he floated in the expanse of green and black fire. It was so like the Ghost Zone that he did not automatically freak out but assessed his situation. For some reason, he could not move; nor could he sense or hear his friends fighting and screaming on the other side, gaining the attention of the spectators, workers, and his parents.

The whispers that he had heard before were now a roar of sound encompassing all of his aware being. He could not decipher, though, what exactly was being said, if there were anything being said at all, in the surrounding sound. He did notice, however, the repetitiveness of it; whatever was being said had a pattern to it. So, it must have been some language or chant or something. But it did not matter as his attention was commanded by a far-off shade that was quickly approaching through the flames. He had no idea how long it took for the mass to reach him, only that it was a while. Nor did he know who the shade was or how he could even perceive it in the tumult of flames surrounding them. If he had to explain it, he would say that the mass was like a presence only because of its emptiness which sharply contrasted against the bright green and omnipresent black around them.

The mass grew as it approached him, fully coming to a height 9 feet, but was still out of focus as if Danny were viewing it from the other side of frosted glass. He probably was—looking through something that is—as he belatedly realized that the horizon he was trapped in, for lack of a better term, felt oddly similar to the Ghost Zone but not completely. It came to a complete stop only three feet away, looking down at him while he floated in space, looking up at it. It must have said something as the flames around them quivered a certain way and the roar focused to a single drone that sounded somewhat like a question. All Danny could do was stare at it and stay in place.

It stopped speaking and the chorus grew back into a roar. Whatever the mass wanted from him must have not been an answer. It seemed satisfied with him just being there as it reached out and placed something that looked like a hand near Danny's chest. He looked down, seeing the flames concentrate around the hand, glowing and vibrating at greater intensities. Danny knew he should have tried to move, tried to get away from whatever it was doing, but could not bring himself to move either from lack of will or just immobility from the controlled space around him. His face did twist though as he felt a twinge when the hand suddenly leapt forward and came into contact with his chest. His shirt had immediately burned through, disintegrating into nothingness, but his skin offered some resistance. Starting as a sting, it slowly escalated to a burn and then a scorching, searing pain as Danny tried his hardest to writhe and wiggle away. Unfortunately, he couldn't even gasp at the anguish that filled every molecule of his being. It was like the portal accident all over again.

With not even the slightest whimper to express his pain nor the sweet release of unconsciousness to save him, all Danny could do is stare at what the mass was doing to him. He could not focus fully on what was happening; he only knew that it was happening. Just when he thought he could take no more, the hand retracted and, with it, the pain. Danny gulped in copious amounts of air, finally being able to breathe without realizing he was not doing so earlier.

He wanted to curl into a ball and sleep away his suffering but could still only pay attention to the pain at his chest and the cause in front of him. Satisfied with its work, it gave Danny an appraising glance as what he thought was his head shifted down and then back up. It tried to speak again, a garbled response eliciting from near a mouth but all Danny picked up was, "Soon."

His ears perked at that. "'Soon'? What's 'soon'? What did you do to me?" The sudden words from Danny came as a surprise to both of them as they found that he could talk and understand the other entity. When it recovered from its shock, it chuckled silently, shoulders and chest shaking, and cocked its head in a movement familiar to Danny. It then turned and started to walk away, done with whatever task it had. Danny tried to call out to him or move at all but found that he was suddenly growing tired, black spots enveloping what he could see.

Before he fully passed out, Danny's blackening vision showed that the flames had dissipated, leaving him back in the alley. He was faced with the images of his friends and family, shocked at the sudden appearance of the one they fought for. Behind them and unnoticed by all but him, a shadowy outline blinked in and out of existence as a white grin spread across the space that could have been its face. His mind did not register any of it though, not the faces, their worried voices, nor the dip the shadow gave him before it disappeared, as his exhaustion gave way to full unconsciousness as he fell to the ground.

* * *

 _Beep. Beep. Drip._

The near silent noises in the background were what drew his attention. He could hear the swishing of fabrics and the breathing of the man checking the machines in the room but it was the monotonous beeping of the heart monitor, slower than usual, and the dripping of the I.V. fluid that he paid attention to.

 _Drip, drip. Beep. Beep. Beep._

He was so relaxed and calm that his breathing nor heart rate changed when he woke and opened his eyes. He just took in the area around him, eyes searching the gray and blue hospital room from the machines monitoring him to the closed window covered in vertical white blinds to the dull red-haired man muttering to himself about how weird the boy's vital readings were even if his family swore up and down that it was normal. He stared at the man for a long time until the nurse turned to him to do a physical check. Of course, said nurse was not expecting for the patient to be awake when he turned so the vibrant blue eyes peering at him came as quite a shock.

"Wha—!" The man's brown eyes widened comically as he jumped back in alarm, clutching his beating heart with his right hand. After his breath became less erratic, he laughed, "Dude, heart attack much! Could've warned me you were awake!"

He stared at the boy in the bed, waiting for a response. All he received was a blank stare and a few blinks; so he decided to restart their awkward conversation with an introduction.

"The name's Tyler. Well," he sighed, returning to the chart in his hand. He flipped a few pages and looked back up at the kid with a slight smile. "Danny, customary question, I know, but how are you doing?" He received the same stare although the kid's eye twitched a bit at the name. "Okay then…I'll just tell the doctor you're up and leave you alone." The ginger walked off muttering, "Creepy kid…how are eyes even that blue?"

The teenager—Danny—was left in the room for a while and, after realizing the male nurse would not immediately return, laid his head back fully on the pillow. Unblinkingly, he stared at the ceiling, trying to regain any semblance of normality. The more he thought though, the more his body ached. Danny wished that he could go straight back to sleep but a large commotion in the hall staved it off. His eyes turned to the door Tyler exited out of just in time to see a large man in orange fling it open.

"Danny!" The massive man in the doorway exclaimed. "Son, you're awake!" Following this man were three woman and another younger male. Two of them women had flaming red hair, one wearing a teal jumpsuit that matched the behemoth next to her and the other a black shirt and teal jeans with a matching headband. The third female, dressed in dark clothes, was splitting her attention between looking concerned towards him and trying to console and pry off the dark-skinned male next to her who would not stop shaking.

When Danny's mind caught up with his eyes as he looked at his family and friends, he chuckled as best he could with the fire in his chest and asked, "Did anybody get the plate number of the semi that hit me?" He expected at least weak laughter and not the silence that followed his often repeated joke.

They half-crowded the bed where he lay and only Jazz commented, "Well, at least we know your bad sense of humor hasn't diminished any."

"Excuse me," he bantered. "My humor is top-notch." He would have gone on if he didn't notice the tight looks on their faces. So he had to ask, "Tuck, how long was I out?"

At being called, the tech-wiz's jitters calmed a bit. He looked at his friend's face sheepishly and answered, "Five days."

His first instinct was to laugh and he did and waited for the rest to join him. But when he looked at them and their out-of-place guilt, he stopped, questioning, "Five days?"

"Well," Tuck relented, "four days, sixteen hours, and fi—six minutes." He watched his friend slowly relax from the fear of being in a hospital as his worry for Danny overtook him.

They were all looking at him with the same looks that screamed guilt and apologies. He was just remembering what could have caused him to stay asleep that long when another female, Valerie, and a man in a long, white lab coat entered the room.

The man looked up a bit ticked at the orange gargantuan in the room and demanded, "Mr. Fenton, this is a hospital, not a circus. I have to ask you to refrain from your exuberant yelling or I will have you removed from the premises." With Jack firmly scolded, the man continued, "I understand you are happy about your son's recovery but, remember, there are others that are trying to rest and heal as well."

With this, Valerie moved over to the bed and joined the crew, eyes flickering over Danny and holding Tucker's hand to assuage his fears further. The man turned to the machines to check the figures the nurse gave to him in the hall when he was alerted before turning to Danny. "Well, look who's up!" The false cheer only made Danny's eye twitch and joking attitude completely dissipate. The man quickly caught on and coughed. "Sorry. I've found that most patients like a sense of normality and congeniality after trauma. I'm Doctor Williams and you've been in this hospital for—"

"Five days," Danny snapped, a bit uncharacteristically short-tempered and still tired. "I know. What I don't know is why."

Dr. Williams flicked his eyes to Jack and Maddie a second, asking for permission. When he received tentative nods, he addressed Danny. "Well, after the event at the site those five days ago, you were brought in. Your vitals were normal, from the information your parents gave us, and your brain was emitting the same waves it would if you were normally asleep. We couldn't do much but provide you a place to rest and nutrients, hence the drip. So, we have been monitoring you for any changes for the while until the time came when you would wake up."

All the speech told Danny was that the medical professional had no idea what had happened to him. Nor did his parents or friends have any clue what had happened from the looks they were giving him. But before he could talk with them, Williams continued.

"So, now that you're awake and there is nothing wrong with you, from the average standpoint anyway, I can only advise that you stay here for at least another day so we can monitor you from the stability of a hospital." The doctor said this mostly to his parents and both acquiesced, knowing that this versus the chaos of their household would be best. He then left the group to their own devices, determined to check on his other, normal patients.

After the only human in the room not keyed on his secret left, Danny had to ask, "Okay. What really happened?"

No one answered for a while until Sam spoke up. "We don't know." He shot her an incredulous look so she kept talking. "It just kind of pulled you in and we couldn't hear you, or see you, or get to you for three hours."

 _Three hours? It didn't feel like that long when I was in there with…with—_ His train of thought derailed as he tried to think about who or what was there with him

"And we didn't get you out," Sam continued. "The shield just vanished and you were there. Your shirt was burnt off and your chest was…glowing."

Maddie stepped in on this point. "We tried to get your attention, Danny. But you were so out of it. And when the glowing on your chest subsided, you passed out. We got you here as soon as possible and you didn't show any signs of waking." She was starting to tear up now and Danny hated seeing her like this so he interrupted.

"I'm good now, guys," he answered, smirking, but still not helping their growing concern. "Where's Dani?" He looked around for his mini-me, wondering why she wasn't with them.

"She's with Lancer," Jazz answered as Jack wanted to talk but knew he shouldn't go all out in a hospital. "When we brought you here, she came with us but something made her, I guess, flicker?"

"Her ectoplasm reacted with whatever happened to you," Jack said, holding his volume at a more acceptable level. "Thankfully, since she's just a human with ghost powers and not a full Halfa, she wasn't affected as much as you were."

Danny was clearly confused about what they were talking about and the growing burn from his chest did not help. He tried to rub the pain away but sharp shocks ran through his body when his hand approached the center of his pain.

"What the—?"

"Danny, don't!" Sam ordered, bringing back his attention to them. She looked worried as Tucker rifled through his PDA, seemingly focused on some task while trying to ignore the fact that he was in a hospital.

"Why does my chest hurt so much?" When he asked, he did not expect an answer from any of the occupants in the room but Valerie piped up.

"It's the writing." Well, that answered everything.

He was about to add some sarcastic comment when a hologram lit up from Tuck's PDA. It was an image of Danny's chest, a still from before the hospital workers had bandaged him up. On a square area that he and the rest knew covered both his heart and his ghostly core was a pattern of swirly and blocky characters. Tucker was saying something about how it was too uniform to be anything but a language and how no languages compiled from either side of Earth or the Ghost Zone resembled what was there.

Danny's thoughts went back to the figure that did this to him and its foreboding decree. A hand brought him back to the room, his friends and family looking at him warily as he calmed down from his hyperventilation. When they saw he was okay, they had Tucker continue.

"None of us can read it and when Dani tried, she got a massive headache and really sick. That's why she's with Lancer."

He tried to pay attention to them, he honestly did. But the still of the writing, now clear and in another form that Tucker had manipulated, was drawing in all of his attention. The swirls seemed to iron out the longer he stared and the odd pattern started to form words. It was like a bout of dyslexia was clearing up and he could read everything in front of him.

"Danny?" Sam asked tentatively, worried as the rest of them were as his chest started to pulse slightly with a minor neon green glow. His eyes gained this faraway look that made Tucker shut off the picture and focus his attention on Danny.

The teen in question only groaned slightly at the loss of the passage and at the knowledge that if what it said was true then their summer was about to get a heck of a lot more complicated.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well, there we have it. This and the next week are finals for me so after that is when I plan to update next. I'll be heading home and most of my friends don't get off until at least a week after me so I'll have plenty of lonely time to type...and read...and wallow in sadness and despair. On a lighter note, hope you all had god Thanksgivings if you celebrate it. If not, you missed on really good food.**

 **Response to Reviewer:**

 **Starlin's Ghost: Thanks! About Danny and everyone not going into the Ghost Zone, I guess I felt like they would enjoy the peace and quiet. After two years of weird, they get a break to normal and it feels pretty good. And they don't get attacked much anymore. Moreover, it hasn't been that long that the ghosts haven't appeared. I'll try to incorporate this in the story next chapter. Thanks again!**

 **See you guys later! Love, JennaUtena. Deuces!**


	4. The Broadcast

**A/N:**

 **Please excuse the delay. I will have regular updates from now until the summertime, I plan. Once every two weeks there should be an update. If not, just give me three more days to pump one out! Thanks for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: My name was never legally Butch Hartman, nor Viacom nor Nickelodeon...so, nope.**

* * *

Chapter 4

After his episode, his family and friends begged him to tell him what had happened. Maddie, especially, was tearing up because she put all the blame of the incident on herself. Danny tried to calm her down and reassure her but only succeeded in reminding her about how it was her and Jack who had put the on and off button on the inside of the portal, resulting in this entire situation. Jack had to take Maddie home after that, leaving Danny with his friends and sister.

"Danny," Sam soothed, "something happened. We know when you're lying. Please, just tell us."

Danny didn't want to worry any of them any more than he already had; so he waved her off and focused the attention back on Tucker. At the reassertion that Tucker had been in the hospital a sustained amount of time, the young man freaked out a bit more, making Valerie sigh and escort him out. Sam took a bit more coaxing to leave and a call from her parents who worried that she would get hurt inexplicably like Danny had. After she left, it was just Jazz who remained.

She wouldn't say anything at first. Instead, Jazz only looked at Danny, the machines he was hooked up to, and the book she was carrying every five minutes. After an hour of Danny wondering if she was going to give him a silent treatment until he would talk, Jazz placed a bookmark from her purse in the novel to hold her place. She stood and smoothed her shirt which had become a bit crumpled and then looked at Danny critically.

"I know you could read it," she accused. And before he could deny it, she continued, "And I think I can understand why you didn't want to tell us what you think you know." She spoke calmly and clearly, the same tone she used when teaching him an important lesson or trying to advise him through a tough situation. "But," she admonished, "you need to remember that we love you. We care for you. And we will always be here for you, Danny. You're their friend, their son, and my baby brother. I will try to keep them off of your case while you're here. But, as soon as we get home, you will tell us what happened."

She bid him goodbye, with him doing the same. Danny always appreciated Jazz and her being in his life. Before she knew, when he kept his secret tight-lipped, she used to budge in annoyingly at the worst times and give him hell for it. Now that she knew and they all worked together, she was one of his main supporters and allowed him a judgement free outlet to speak freely. He didn't know what he would do without her.

He didn't know what he would do without any of them.

* * *

It took another five days for Dr. Williams to be satisfied with Danny's recovery even though he tried to refer the Fentons to a specialist who could discuss with them the abnormality of Danny's vitals. Of course, they thanked him but turned him down since they knew the dangers of it.

Danny was no longer in debilitating pain whenever he touched his chest. It had decreased to a mild discomfort. The affected area was no longer splotchy and red but the writing was still there and periodically glowed green. The characters were the same, as were there position, and so was the suspicion of Danny's friends that he knew what they said.

"Son," Jack started, as he rolled Danny out of the hospital on the wheelchair they required him to ride in.

"When we get everyone to the house, dad," was the short answer Danny gave him.

Over the last few days, Danny had been a bit restless and short with all of them. He was obviously peeved about something but, other than the mark, no one could tell what made him so mad. Every time someone brought up the incident, Danny would try to change the subject. This was especially good because when someone started to talk about the mark, Danny's chest would start to throb and the writing would dimly glow green. While the pain had decreased, it was still annoying; so, they all tried to stay away from the subject but had nothing to really talk about.

On the ride home, Valerie called Dani to tell her they were coming and Maddie called Mr. Lancer since she thought he should be a part of the meeting as well because he was a member of their group. Sam tried many times to get Danny to talk to her but was constantly subverted by Tucker who would make a spectacle of himself, distract her, or talk to Danny about random things. When she finally accepted momentary defeat, Danny sent Tucker a grateful smile which was met by a slight glare since Sam's last act was to kick Tucker with her steel-toed boot.

When they got home, Danny was quickly ushered into the living room where Dani and Mr. Lancer were waiting for them. Maddie went into the kitchen with Valerie and Tucker to get a late lunch for everyone while Jack and Sam settled Danny onto the couch. It was not hard for him to move but being in the hospital so long without any physical activity made Danny a bit stiff and sore. Dani inched away from Danny a bit when she tried to approach him and his chest glowed in response. They gave each other the same sorry looks as she took the chair the farthest away from him.

After the three came back from the kitchen and socially acceptable and mandatory pleasantries were exchanged, Sam asked, "So, Danny. What's it say?"

Danny choked a little on his carrot, making Tucker, who sat right next to him, slap him on the back, only making the offending root go farther down and slightly scrape his esophagus.

Tucker chuckled, "Sorry, dude," while Danny glared at him. He would have continued but Lancer clearing his throat reminded him of the urgency of the situation.

They were all staring at him with varying levels of urging, wariness, and trepidation. Danny knew he had to say something, do something, to appease them. After all they had gone through the past two years, he wanted it to be smooth sailing for the lot of them. But he knew that fate, or Murphy, or whoever just loved to put him and his loved ones through the gauntlet.

"I've had time to think about it," Danny started, with his head turned down and his hands clenched in his lap. "About what happened in the flames…There was someone—something—on the other side with me. I don't know who it was but I think it was a ghost. It couldn't have been a human. It was so loud in there, and bright and dark at the same time. It spoke and did this to me," he said as he pointed to his chest which had started to hurt minutely and glow as well. "I don't remember all of what happened, probably because I was so disoriented. It didn't even feel like I was in there for three hours. But whatever happened and whatever he was…something will come of it 'soon'. Or, at least, that's what he said."

No one wanted to speak first, hoping Danny would continue, until Lancer asked, "Who said what?"

Danny sighed and ran his hand through his already disheveled hair. "He did. Whoever was there with me said something and all I could catch was 'soon'. But now, I'm not so sure he was speaking English."

This revelation only made Danny more frustrated and the rest a bit confused until she remembered something from a certain ghost's visit.

"Do you remember what the Ghost Writer told us when he and Mr. Lancer were trying to teach Dani about Renaissance authors?" Jazz proposed, trying to elicit responses from others.

"Yeah," Dani perked up. "He started talking about some of his favorite writers and got so excited that started speaking in gibberish! I got a massive headache from that conversation."

The three thought, trying to recall specifics of the situation. It was Lancer who could finally voice his thoughts aloud that spoke.

"No, not gibberish," Lancer corrected. "After we told him of his slip, he admitted that he was speaking a language, one that solely the dead could understand. He tried to tell us the name but whenever we tried to reproduce it, there were sounds our tongues could not grasp."

Maddie, who had been despondent for most of the week, then offered, "Maybe that headache then wasn't because you didn't understand the question, Dani. It probably came from the same reason you reacted so negatively to the writing on Danny's chest."

"Her ectoplasm recognized the writing and the language but conflicted with her human side, making her feel sick while the two counterparts fought. Danny-boy's not affected as much because his two sides are equal and in tune."

All in the living room turned to the pondering behemoth in orange who, at all the added attention, asked, "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, dear," Maddie affirmed. "And I think you're right."

Of course, this just made the group go further into discussion on how the differences between Dani and Danny's composition affected their reactions to this "Ghost Language" which brought up the original elephant no longer in the room.

"That's why he always reacted so badly when the ghost vultures or Skulker tried to tell him something. I never understood why he kept reminding them to speak in English. They must have been speaking in the dead language and I filtered it immediately."

At the allusion to a male who interacted with ghosts, a pall overtook the household. Dani, still wracked with nightmares of what the man had done, started to shake. Valerie, pissed that he had used her against her better but then clouded judgement, tried to focus on consoling Dani. Tucker grasped his PDA tighter and Sam clicked her tongue in disgust. Lancer glowered at the situations in which he allowed the man to influence him and his students. Jack became sad at the mention of someone who he once thought to be a friend. But Maddie?

"If that _man_ , suffered at all, then it was too little," she seethed, focusing on the task at hand and using her anger to fuel her attention. "Tucker," she snapped, "bring up the hologram again. Valerie, if she even flinches, take Dani out of the room. Dani, do as you're told. Sam, leave Danny to speak when he is comfortable. Jack, you will get fudge later and prepare to take a trip. William, get ready to inform Damon and some others on the Council of our leaving for a short while." The almost hissed orders were immediately followed by everyone in attendance, everyone reminded of how powerful the Fenton matriarch was.

"And Danny," she focused, giving her son a level look, "tell us what you know."

Any chance of changing the subject had passed and Danny was left with only one choice: to come clean. As Tucker pulled up the clearest rendering of the passage scarred on Danny's chest, Dani felt no discomfort except for a mild twinge when Danny felt his chest start to pound lightly.

"I could say it in the tongue," he offered. "I don't think I can translate directly, but none of you would understand it and Dani...Well, it says, 'For all the gifted and blesséd who exist in the glorious reign, a message, decree of his coming once again.'"

On his chest, the characters had begun to glow as he spoke as if recognizing that they were being discussed. Valerie was ready to take Dani away but the younger girl felt no pain, only confusion as she say Danny's eyes begin to glow a green different from his usual. The others saw it too. Instead of the bright will-o'-wisp glow of a lightning bug like usual, Danny's eyes flicker like the green flames that had trapped him just days before.

It was like he was stuck in a trance as he continued to read but no one would stop him. And so he read the glyphs. "A messenger shall come three times and bear witness to the claim of the mark of the king. On the fourth occasion, the rightful ruler shall reclaim the burning crown and his sigil of hatred and take what is as his right of conquest. Long reign the Dread King. Long reign Pariah Dark."

Silence followed the recitation. Danny came down from his trance-state, only slightly aware of his freaked out family and more worrying about how he could not control his actions as he spoke. Valerie checked over Dani who seemed the most confused out of all of them. Sam looked ready pass out or wear a fully pink outfit to erase what she just heard. Mr. Lancer muttered different doomsday novel titles under his breath to calm his frayed nerves. Maddie's and Jack's faces faltered as they looked worriedly at each other.

Tucker, always the one trying to lighten the situation, joked, "Well, at least we know what's coming. We won't be blindsided again by another reign storm."

Waiting for even the slightest chuckle or at least a cuff from Sam or Valerie, Tucker's pun was met with more silence and slight derision. Though there was an immediate effect on Maddie who ran to the basement in a teal blur. Momentarily shocked by her actions, the Phantom clan paused and then rushed to follow her.

Finding her in the chrome and glowing green lab with weapons and machinery half completed strewn throughout the lab, the group came to a stop in front of a giant screen which hosted visuals from a camera on the other side of the Portal. Trusting and not worrying in their ghostly companions, no one had checked on the Ghost Zone in a while. Maddie typed in a set of codes to which only they were privvy and scanned her thumb to prove she was Madeleine Fenton. The image, or lack of as the screen showed nothing but white noise and snow, only made the already wary group more scared.

Danny ran to the portal and shouted at his father to open it. When the man finally entered his sequence of codes and scanned his thumbprint, the great silver doors grated and screeched open. Danny made a mental note to oil the hinges after he turned the portal off while he looked into the green. Since the last update they made, whenever someone on this side looked into the portal, they saw the immediate of the other side. When Danny looked through, everything looked normal, if it were a picture.

Everything was frozen. Nothing was moving. The ambient ectoplasm was still. A ghost in the distance floating did not even flicker. No islands bobbed. No doors flashed in and out of focus. It was the same deal as the alleyway.

Growling, Danny flickered his blue eyes to green and was met with the same green blaze they had seen ten days before. Valerie whipped out her goggles and extras for the humans without much gear. Maddie and Jack whipped their goggles from one of the many pockets in their jumpsuits. Dani switched her vision as well and immediately got a headache from the sight in front of her. Tucker allowed Lancer to take his goggles. Instead, he scanned the portal with his PDA which showed him the barrier.

Danny lashed at the wall of flames in a barrage of punches, kicks, and ectoblasts. He even shot ice from both his hands and his eyes at the barrier. Only getting more agitated as the flames flickered against the attacks, he stopped and braced himself, taking in one long breath to blast the wall to smithereens. Thankfully, he was stopped by the slight shock of Dani who poked him with a super charged finger.

"What were you thinking?" She yelled. "You could have blown our house down!"

Danny was about to blow up on her too until he saw the faces of those around them. Even Sam's and Tucker's were a bit frightful which reminded him of a time he never would have to face again. Danny had sometime between seeing the illusion and attacking, switched to Phantom form so all of his attacks were more than doubly powerful than in his human form. The metal wall and floor were warped and charred, broken in some places by the sheer force of Danny's power and frantic rage. He looked at the sight in horror until a soft voice grabbed his attention.

"Danny," Jazz called. "Focus and shift back. Dealing out punches isn't going to help right now. We need to plan."

"Plan?" His voice cracked as he tried to calm himself. He had no idea where this sudden urge of energy came from other than the want—no—the _need_ to save, help protect. "We _need_ to get in there!"

At the urging of Sam, the group sans Dani, Valerie, and Jazz backed up to give Danny room to breathe.

"Your core is calling you again, Danny," Jazz informed him. "Remember, Clockwork said it would only grow stronger while you grew. You need to focus, harness it, recognize it, and control it."

He tried to do what she asked but as he tried to calm, another fiercer brighter energy fought against it, only kindling the fire that grew inside of him. He frantically tried to push it down, push away the mass of power that was surging throughout his body. When he felt he could contain the fire inside him, he let it go. But it just fizzled out. In the shock, he transformed back into Fenton and almost fell off of his feet.

"I have to," he tried. "I _have to get_...I have to sa—"

"You don't _have_ to do anything, Daniel, except rest," Maddie ordered, walking forward to support her son and lead him up the stairs. While Maddie led the distressed Danny away, the rest shared looks of confusion and fear until Jack sighed and closed the portal, even going to turn it all of the way off. Jazz looked ready to object to her father's actions but stopped at the determination that painted his face.

"I'll need help cleaning this up," Jack said, not waiting for anyone to follow him as he picked up the aftermath of whatever had just happened. Afterwards, they all went to work, each thinking about what the hell they were going to do.

* * *

Maddie demanded that Danny sleep for the rest of the day. And no one else felt up to doing anything after the fiasco in the basement so Sam, Tucker and Valerie went home to their parents. Dani and Jazz went up to their rooms to read, clean, or, in Dani's case, just sulk. The adults, however, planned. Before, they realized, it was children effectively protecting not only them and Amity Park, but the entirety of existence as they knew it. It was their turn to pick up the slack. They were the adults, after all. All childish nonsense by them had to be put away for the sake of their children and for the sake of them all.

From the samples gathered during and after Danny's interaction with the flames near City Hall, Maddie supervised Jack running experiments and simulations on what could affect the energy blocking passage through the portal. Meanwhile, she and Lancer rewrote what Danny said the passage said to find out what exactly it meant.

"Pariah Dark? That's the ghost king that pulled us into the Ghost Zone last year, correct?" He asked.

"Yes, and, from what the kids told me, Danny barely beat him with the help of all the ghosts, _Vlad_ , and the Exoskeleton which almost killed him." Maddie sighed and started to chew on the pencil she was supposed to be writing down. "It made his power ten times stronger and put him at a level of 6.4 at the time."

" _The Will to Power_ , he was a 0.64 level ghost only a year ago?" Lancer asked, astonished.

"What? No," Maddie corrected. "The ghost ranking system measures closer the pH scale where every level has a difference of the multiple of ten. Before donning the suit, he was probably a 5.6. It enhanced his powers while more quickly draining his life force."

Lancer was still worried. "But is he not above 9 now?"

Maddie leaned back in the purple love-seat, stopping her ponderings to refigure her thought process. "Yes, but that's not the problem. The waves of power Pariah Dark gave off completely shattered all of our and the GIW ghost level readers." At the bland look of Lancer, she continued, "they are supposed to read out to level 15 entities."

The whirring in the basement of Jack's work stopped for a second as silence filled the house, only amplifying what she just said. But it started again only after a second's pause.

"Then how was Daniel able to defeat him the first time? How was anyone?"

Maddie looked Lancer square in the face and admitted, "He almost didn't. When Danny faced Pariah head to head, he challenged Pariah. The Ghost King underestimated Danny and my son was somehow able to usurp him and trick him back in to the sarcophagus where he should have still been imprisoned. The kids called it the 'Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep' which a group of ancient ghosts—no—The Ancients made to cage Pariah Dark for eternity to end his reign. He was too powerful for any of them to destroy completely."

Lancer knew the rest of the story already. He knew about Vlad being the one who, in search for more power, found Pariah's Keep and wakened the King from his forced slumber and how he manipulated Danny into fighting him to save them all. At least the creep had the good graces to help the boy back. How had they not questioned Vlad claiming finding Danny exhausted and beaten badly near the city limits?

"I asked myself that same question after the dust of his betrayal finally settled," Maddie whispered loud enough so Lancer knew he had said at least the last sentence out loud. He wondered how much she heard but knew it did not matter at the moment especially with his epiphany.

"Power," he said, an unspoken answer in his head. He turned to Maddie who was wondering what he meant when he saw her eyes light up in recognition.

"Power," she affirmed.

"So, the 'burning crown' and the 'sigil of hatred' would be the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage that they told us about, yes?" Lancer proposed.

"William, yes!" Maddie exclaimed, thankful for the only breakthrough they had had since the group disbanded for the day. "We just have to find where they are."

The two pondered for a second, trying to remember if the children had been privy to that information or if one of their ghost friends told them anything about their locations. Neither could remember any details except for Clockwork telling Danny that all was as it should have been and he saw no major harm in the future.

"He must not have seen this coming," Maddie muttered as she and Lancer rifled through records of conversations, notes, and lectures.

They gave up an hour later until Maddie remembered Danny talking about his Ghost Files. She left Lancer in the living room to peruse more so she could go to the basement to check up on Jack and search their massive computer. She heard the tinkering Jack was doing. And when she finally got to the open area that was their lab, she witnessed him hunched over a lab table with thick goggles rimming his eyes. Whatever concoction he was preparing completely held his attention. Never before had she seen him so focused. She was so proud of him. So, she made a point to be quiet as she looked up the information she needed from the shared and corrected files they had over ectoplasmic beings and their interactions.

After she printed what she needed, Maddie glanced back at her hard working husband and shook her head lovingly. Heading up, she saw that Lancer had organized all of their accounts, most likely by name of ghost in alphabetical order and date. She had done the same and very much so appreciated the companionship of another adult with still over half of the town's grownups avoiding her and her husband. Maybe William Lancer would be the friend they thought they had in that piece of ectoplasmic scum of a man they thought they knew.

"Here, I printed off a few of the files that pulled up when I mentioned the Ring and the Crown," she offered, giving them to Lancer so he could organize them according to his system.

After a few minutes, he introduced his outline to her. It had not been by name as she thought but by level of ghost. "I figured that since Pariah Dark was a higher level ghost then only the higher levels or the more daring ghosts would actually have witnessed something or been around before, during his reign," Lancer explained, gaining the quiet praise of Maddie. "And it seems that the accounts from the higher leveled ghosts or the longer existing ones are less far-fetched and more consistent."

Pointing to a few quotes he highlighted, he mentions, "You see here it says that when Pariah was first sealed, his crown and ring, major sources of his power, were taken from him by the Ancients. Near the coffin, in a sphere of pure energy, was the ring. The crown was placed on the forefront of the lid of the sarcophagus where a head would rest. The tomb was then locked by a key which should have been given to a guardian named—"

"The Behemoth. I know," Maddie interrupted, remembering Danny telling her a bit of his adventures in the Ghost Zone.

"Yes," Lancer nodded. "So, when…Masters unsealed the King accidentally, he stole both the crown and the ring which was retrieved by the Fright Knight and well…" They both knew the story. What they did not know was how Pariah would get unleashed once more or how it had already happened and where these items were located.

Maddie pulled up a conversation between Danny, Skulker, and Technus who had spoken about recovering all of the items Vlad had stolen over the years with ectoplasmic, mystic, or other-worldly importance. Among them were the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage.

"Skulker told Danny that he had searched all of Vlad's known bases that the man told him of and Technus searched through the man's databases, only being able to decrypt a bit over half with the help of Tucker and a few other trusted men and women, and found three other hideouts, but none of them house Pariah's belongings."

It seemed the two were at a dead end until they remembered the other parts of the passage.

"'A messenger shall come three times'. Once already came," Lancer pondered out loud. "The other two must be to retrieve the artifacts. What other reason would he or she have to breach the barrier? Then they must still be on this side of the Portal?"

"And it's not like we can check any other portals to see if they are blocked. The only working portal on Earth is in our basement!" Maddie yelled. "Why didn't we check up on them sooner? Why didn't we do anything?"

It was heavily affecting all of them, each feeling the blame and grief even though Danny's was ectoplasmically ingrained into his being. Even Lancer was feeling remorse at not following up on the letters he and Ghost Writer had been sending each other. He still had the discourse the other had written covering the differences of writers' styles before and after they became ghosts and "death" became a completely different idea.

"It's not your fault, Maddie," Jack said, appearing silently from the basement. The two had been too involved in their discoveries and discussion to notice the noises in the basement stop and Jack come up the stairs.

"It's not your fault," he repeated. "And we'll make sure that everything is okay. All of us. Together."

Jack Fenton was a man of his word. Whenever he spoke, whether about fudge, the weather, ham, inconsequential events, or his family, he always spoke with conviction and not that of an idiot, but of a man who would do anything to protect and provide for him and his own. But even with the strength behind his voice and countenance, none of them, not even Jack, were sure everything would end up okay.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Thank you again and I hope you enjoyed this slight but not so much filler!**

 **Response to Reviews:**

 **dearoldsam: Thank you very much! I hope you approve of the direction and continue to read the story! I am trying to make it a bit darker but still heavily reliant on the relationships of the group because I like the proposed positive interactions when those who matter know Danny's secret.**

 **MysteryTrek: There could never be peace in any Phantom-verse. What is life without struggle? What is existence without conflict? Thanks for questioning the story's direction, though. It keeps me on my toes o make things more believable.**

 **FMAlover32: Thank you and I am so sorry for the wait! I've an extremely hectic schedule but I will be updating regularly for the foreseen future, Clockwork willing!**

 **Love, JennaUtena. Deuces!**


	5. Global Disaster

**A/N: Hey, everyone! Sorry for the pause but I'm back on track! The story's moving a bit faster than I thought it would but that gives plenty of time for extra stuff and more story lines and plot bunnies I would have otherwise ignored. But here you go!**

 **Disclaimer: I have never owned Danny Phantom...If I did, Disasteroid would never have been a thing...**

* * *

Chapter 5

Three days had passed and yet, even after Maddie and Mr. Lancer shared their information with the children, nothing new had arisen. Jack, with the help of Tucker who ran simulations of experiments to save time and Sam who provided capital and labor for these experiments, had run through thousands of trials of how they could disrupt the barrier. The only thing that came close was a mixture of concentrated blood blossom essence and electricity which made the barrier, after the portal had been rebooted, lash out as if it new it was being attacked. So, the three continued experiments with the focus on using blood blossoms. Because of this, Danny and Dani had to stay away from the lab just in case.

When word had been spread through closed channels of a new ghost crisis, hunters and specialists from all over the world came to Amity to help, learn, and observe. So, in preparation for the disaster that was going to hit, Valerie trained and Dani with her. Maddie and Jack had developed other ghost weapons after the Disasteroid that could be used to subdue ghosts if needed and they had become masters. They assisted the visitors, amateurs and professionals alike, in physical, tactical, and weapons training. Information from global ghost sightings had been shared, some passed off as non-ghostly and others analyzed and categorized by the Fenton group.

This left Danny, whose nerves were still frayed, and Jazz to work alone on his problems. Because of her interests in psychology and ghosts, she was the most qualified of them all to be the in-house therapist for their group. Now, Jazz was trying to focus on Danny and get him to control his core or at least be ready for energy surges. They could not go into the lab because of the blood blossom experiments but there were plenty of places on the outskirts of the city where Danny and Dani could practice their ghost powers and not disturb anyone nor get caught. One such building was an old warehouse once owned by Axion Labs and now served a machine testing facility for Fenton Works; it was far enough from any residential or commercial areas to elicit noise complaints.

Danny went out there many times both with his family and friends and alone as his powers diversified and their potency grew. Now, he stood ten feet away from his sister, eyes bugged out, gaping at her incredulously.

"You want me to what now?" He asked, still unsure he heard her correctly.

"You heard me. I want you to go through your powers, one by one, in the order you gained them, at full power," she ordered, crossing her arms at his hesitancy. "Your powers have grown since you first got them and, from anything we've been told, will continue to do so. The best thing we can do while we can't find you a ghostly tutor is this."

Even with her increasing stubbornness, Danny had to protest. "Are you sure? Just...hear me out. If I used my powers at full blast, I'm pretty sure I'd destroy half the city...even from here...I mean, did you forget about my ghostly wail?"

Jazz scoffed through his mini-speech until that last part. She knew Danny was powerful, even more so now that he was in the nines range. And that super scream of his could have leveled the city when he first got it back when he was only around a power range of fives and sixes. She blushed profusely at her mistake, making her face redder than her hair. Danny, moving from the seriousness of the moment, burst into not-so-manly giggles at his sister's embarrassment.

"Oh shut up," she tried to demand but cracking her voice which made Danny only laugh harder. "Don't make me use the thermos on you! My aim's improved a lot since junior year!"

The threat made Danny shudder a bit, remembering the long hours he was trapped, stuffed in the cylindrical container that was the Fenton Thermos. After the first few times, he honestly regretted leaving ghosts in there for more than a minute. Well, maybe not Boxy. But he recovered, mocking, "You mean to say you weren't doing that on purpose the whole time? And all the while I thought you just hated me."

"Oh, I do hate you, little brother," Jazz smirked evilly, "which is why, instead of offense power training," she said as she whipped out the Fenton Peeler, "we'll work on defense and evasion."

As she crept towards him and activated her suit, Danny gulped, only slightly not believing his sister's promise of leaving him in a thermos for the day. He knew the suit had been updated to include at least one containment unit and had no idea if he could break out of it like some of the weaker versions.

"Come on, Jazz," he chided. "I was just joking around." He raised his hands placatingly, trying to increase his innocence as she stalked towards him, ready to beat him down.

"Oh, I know but wait 'til you hear my punchline," she answered, balling her right fist.

The pun threw Danny off-guard as he tripped and almost fell while backing up. "Really, Jazz? Did you just make a pun?"

She shrugged and charged the blaster on her arm, replying, "That's what Skulker said you always did before dealing out 'pun'-ishments."

Danny face-palmed at the second and even worse pun, swearing under his breath the he was going to have a serious talk with the mechanized ghost about what he taught his sister. And if he did not hear the whistle and heat coming off of the charged blast mere inches from his face, he would have been too distracted to dodge and back flip into defensive position.

Jazz faced him, glaring and excited. "You should pay attention more. It's a wonder no one has taken you out before!"

All Danny had time to do was chuckle and inhale to say something before she fired a succession of shots with one hitting an edge of his shirt, making flames ignite. Danny pat down the shirt only to move his hand and reveal a slightly smoldering but obviously charred and burned edge that was no way hideable.

"Okay, then," he shrugged, rolling his shoulders and audibly popping a few joints much to Jazz's discomfort. "It's on!"

* * *

By the time their little training session had ended, Jazz's Fenton Peeler was in shambles although she was completely unharmed. All five mini containment units and the main Thermos were destroyed, the blasters were disassembled, the nets were ripped to shreds, and the chrome outer layer was torn apart and nearly unrecognizable from the immaculate condition it once was. But Danny was definitely not in better shape.

His shirt had been completely burned off, his pants were ragged to the point of his boxers showing prominently through, and his hair looked even more disheveled than usual and more gray and green than black. Bruises from trying not to hurt Jazz while protecting himself were fading out and cuts from flinging detritus that was shrapnel from walls and equipment blown around them were closing and leaving cross-haired scars before those too faded. The entire fight had been in his human form so he was panting heavily from the triple attempt of keeping Jazz from being hurt, keeping him from losing all of his clothes, and effectively countering everything she threw at him.

So ruined was his outfit that, by the time they were done, Jazz was not sure the seams holding his clothes together would last a walk or even a drive to Fenton Works. So, he transformed and flew home while she packed up what of her mess she could and drove home in her Teal Prius.

She arrived ten minutes after Danny did thanks to his super speed and a small traffic jam and was met with the worried faces of her mother and father who waited for her as soon as Danny told them what her plan for the morning was. After slight berating and doting on, Jack took what was left of the Fenton Peeler, while mourning its destruction, and went to the lab to toss it into the scrap pile of all destroyed or malfunctioning inventions to be worked on later.

Everyone in their main posse was there: the Fentons, including Dani to the group and Phoebe to the world, Sam and Tucker, and Valerie and Lancer. They were still working on finding a way to dissolve the barrier that barred their entrance to the Ghost Zone but had made no significant progress and finding the Ghost King's artifacts this side of the Zone which is why the living room looked like a war room.

Walls were covered with pictures pinned up of Vlad and his more shady associates, both humans and ghosts. Connected to these pictures by different colored strings were documents of referrals, appraisals, conference minutes, phone call transcripts, and even restaurant receipts. The strings were green for solved or concrete, yellow for questioning, and red for unknown. Most were red. Nevertheless, the group worked hard and branched out their theories with not just what they found but with information from others as well.

Tucker, the tech-savvy genius, had, over the years, built a global network of ghost hunting, tracking, and researching teams that they could at least loosely trust with telling about the Ghost Theories he, Sam, and Danny had compiled. Each of their individual war rooms mirrored the Fenton's living room with diversifying amounts of information focused on individuals in their region. Tucker and Dani just finished a meeting with their Brazilian friends after a late lunch when his first back-up PDA's alert tone rang.

He quickly answered it, connecting the video and audio to the television in the living room, letting the frantic screaming and yelling be heard from the other side and running people be seen. The sudden loud noise drew the attention of all in the house and a few outside, being the entire group and a few conferencing ghost hunters being taught by Valerie how to handle different level blasters. While they came together in Amity Park, people on the other side of the world, Japan from the characters on the shop signs seen between and behind the running people, were trying to escape for their lives as a hoard of skeleton ghosts marched through the streets, destroying anything in their path and blasting or charging at those who did not move fast enough.

As soon as that particular video clip paused, another appeared showing a similar scene in a different area with more people running away from destruction-causing and havoc-wreaking skeleton ghosts. No one moved in the living room. They were all shocked by the coverage and wondering how they had not been told about this or known about this earlier. The one who could have helped the quickest winced every time someone came close to being incinerated or hurt. But most of them realized one thing: no ghost actively hurt humans. They were only attacking those who did not move or were not moving fast enough. It was not an attack. It was a distraction.

The clip zoomed out and a time stamp appeared showing that it happened in the middle of the night. Two newscasters began to explain what was recorded on the video and how other pictures had appeared showcasing the attack. The people on the screen looked completely terrified and bewildered and it did not help that many of the people in the living room had no idea what they were saying. It wasn't until the screen fizzled out to show four haggard adults that they knew they were going to get some information.

"Everyone!" The youngest looking woman yelled, letting the Americans know their Japanese partners could see them. "Did you see this? Do you know what this was?"

A man in the background growled a few words at her and yelled at the rest of them, throwing his arm out accusingly at the Americans. It took the two others, another woman and man, dragging him out of the room to finally get the volume down to conversation levels.

"Much apologies for Takasu- _san_ 's rudeness," she offered, bowing slightly.

"That's no problem, Nagata- _san_ ," Maddie said, taking the reins. "What happened?"

The woman on the other side, Nagata Azusa, sighed deeply and shook her head before answering. "It started last night. They came from nowhere and the center of Akihabara was taken. No one was seriously injured but a few were taken to near hospitals. They...they destroyed so much..."

Valerie's fists clenched in anger at their uselessness. Something big had happened half the world away and they could do nothing but hear it and watch it second-hand when they should have been there, protecting people. Everyone felt the same sentiment in the room, Danny most of all. His chest began to twinge lightly and his eyes glowed an acidic green and, against common courtesy, began to speak.

"Azu- _san_ ," he called, bringing attention to himself after he controlled his eyes enough that they no longer glowed. "We need to know what happened."

The woman narrowed her eyes at the boy demanding things of her before tucking her shoulder-length hair behind her ears.

"Fine, boy," she seethed. "The _yokai_ happened. These weren't ghosts! These were demons. Skeleton armies poured from portals of green fire and filled the streets, making people leave their homes and businesses. They attacked those who did not move quickly and corralled us away from the center of their focus. _Buntai_ , the team formed a circle around the affected area and fought against them as best as we could. But they just kept coming. Every one we took down, five more came. And then...five hours later...they disappeared."

Humans and halfa were silent on both sides, only equipment and nature making sounds but even those were muted over the thoughts of everyone there. Nagata shook from fear on her end and tears threatened to fall from her eyes. Amity Park was really the only place that faced ghosts as corporeal and widely violent as fully formed specters. The rest of the world had to deal with lower level apparitions and this attack on Japan was the first out-of-America instance. Lancer and Dani took to near computers and smartphones to look up the incident but the oldest videos or reports only came from a few minutes ago.

"How come this didn't show up earlier?" Sam asked incredulously, looking over Dani's shoulder.

"Energy blackout," Nagata responded. "Minutes before they first came, all electronics went off. Lights went out. Phones were dead. Nothing that ran on electricity worked. And we were completely in the dark until some underground radio stations started warning people. We launched as soon as possible but we did not get there early enough to secure the location."

"What were they after?" Danny asked, again drawing the attention away from the humans and the group. His head was beginning to ache a bit which he waved off as a sign of hyper-focus.

Nagata glared at his abruptness and almost cursed at him until she saw the ice in his eyes. In that moment, she knew that this boy, over fifteen years her junior, had faced attacks like this and much worse. So, she kept her opinions to herself.

"We were only just able to get word out. The entire region is rebooting," she started. "We have no way to know what they wanted exactly but...the building in the middle was a multilevel skyscraper known for housing several businesses including one whose Board of Directors held relations with another company Vladimir Masters was a part of."

At Vlad's mention, the two older Fentons stuttered in movement, Dani gasped and the rest turned angry quickly. But Danny's brow just furrowed as he tried to think about what company near the area could have been targeted.

"What was its name?" Tucker asked, trying to bring the group out of this reminiscing funk.

"It is said like ' _Oh-i_ '," Nagasa said, pausing to think. "I believe that it translates in English to...'Crown'."

Lancer's head popped up abruptly. " _Chronicles of A Death Foretold_ ," he said, loud enough to gain the attention of everyone and the worry of Nagata who was distracted by someone coming through a door on the other side.

A group of younger looking people entered, all excitedly talking at the same time before one spoke over them all and gave her a tablet. The man pressed a few buttons and sound could be heard but no one on the Amity Park side of the conference could see what was going on. Dani was about to talk to Mr. Lancer and ask why he said that book's title when Nagata began to speak again.

She jabbed at something on the screen and started to say something including the words ' _nan_ ' and ' _oh-i_ '. It was taking too long for them to tell her what was going on so she turned to Tucker and said, "Computer boy, I need you to clear something up for me."

The man closest to her slid a few things on the screen and entered a few codes, making a blurry video appear on the screen, covering some of the picture of Nagata and her team.

"Got it," Tucker responded and went to typing and ticking away on his handheld. He made the video as clear as possible in the short time and pressed play when Lancer decided to speak once more.

"It was the crown," he said. "That's what they were after."

While everyone in Japan was confused by the statement, those in Amity understood and saw. The video was captured by and compiled from some battery-operated security cameras that showed a group of more heavily decorated skeletons and warrior ghosts passing along and inspecting a glowing lock box. One lower-ranked skeleton touched the box and screamed, succeeding in opening it but disintegrating in the process. The other ghosts paid no mind to the charred remains and quickly disappearing dust that was all that was left of the grunt. One more solid looking entity reach carefully in the box to the source of a brighter but flickering glow. What he pulled out shocked and confirmed what Lancer had said but only confused the Japan natives more.

Nagata was about to demand to be told what was going on when Maddie told her, "Thank you for reporting this to us as soon as you could. While they go to the Ops Center, I will tell you everything that has happened. Jack, return to the experiments please. Children, Mr. Lancer, go."

At the dismissal, all of the Americans disbanded, leaving Maddie to explain all that she was willing to assuage a little of the worry and anger showing on their faces. She was still talking to their Japanese partners when the lab doors shut and the rest of the group entered the large metal monstrosity on top of the house.

Lancer beckoned them all towards a table near the center of the futuristic looking control room and bid them all sit down.

"It would be ridiculous for this to be right. But...after all of the puns and coincidences, I believe that Masters had a tendency to name things after what they exactly were." The bland looks from the teenagers made him explain more. "VladCo was his main company, the one he put most of his face on. DALV Group was a shadow company where he did with many backwards deals and worked with twisted people."

"And 'DALV' is just 'Vlad' backwards!" Tucker interrupted, happy with his revelation. He gained a glare and shush from Sam and a pat on the back from Valerie.

"Exactly," Lancer nodded. "And, many of his other companies that he owned behind pseudonyms held names dealing exactly what they were hiding. The company he used to find large amounts of ectoranium was called 'Kryptonite', the mineral known to incapacitate Superman which also glows green. The company he used in more two-faced dealings that was said to be a charity-based non-profit but held stakes in multiple black market transactions was called 'Janus', named after the Roman god who is depicted as being two-faced. It would only make the simplest sense that he would hide the Crown of Fire in a company called 'Crown'."

All were coming to the same realization of how transparent Vlad Masters truly was, even though Danny, Dani, and Valerie were the only ones who knew the most of Vlad's twistedness and Danny knew the most sides of the man, even the sides that would made for a different outcome. But all of this thinking about alternate timelines was beginning to make his headache grow more and more.

Valerie voiced her thoughts first. "So what? If there's a company called 'Ring' that he was involved with, that's where the Ring of Rage will be?"

They all paused and looked at her oddly before getting into motion. She contacted the South Eastern Hemisphere. Sam covered the South Western. Tucker got the North Eastern head on the line. Dani got the North Western group in a web chat forum. Lancer ran to the fridge which doubled as a transport tube to tell Maddie and Jack. Jazz helped wherever she could and Danny just stood around.

His core was starting to ache more and the marking on his chest was not helping. Danny rubbed the affected area in an attempt to alleviate his pain but it only made it worse. So he looked down and noticed that the glowing was visible even through his deep blue shirt. Sam's gasp made him look up at his friends and family who looked at him warily and with worry. Dani was inching backwards as she winced in pain.

Able to take no more, Danny whispered, "Sorry," and phased through the floor to the main house. He landed in the hall outside of his room. His mom, Danny heard, was still discussing what was to be done with Nagata and her people. He almost stumbled into his room as the pain in his chest escalated quickly in his lonesome. It felt as if a sudden increase of burning energy surged through his core and his entire body. Vision blurring, Danny relied on his feet to carry him to where he thought his bed was. He took a chance and fell forward, rewarded with the soft bounce of his comforter and mattress underneath.

His ears began to thud as blood rushed to his head, boiling from the increase in energy. Or maybe he was just hearing them pound away at his door that he must have locked when entering. Danny tried to focus on something—their yells, his heartbeat, the burn in his chest, the faint but growing indecipherable whispers all around him—but he was too dizzy and unfocused. In his confused state, Danny was unable to react to Sam and Tucker trying to sit him up and flinching back at the heat coming off of him in waves. Them speaking to him didn't phase him as his head swam dangerously.

He heard nothing, saw nothing, and was focused on nothing except for the pain and fire that encompassed his entire being. It wasn't as worse as when he was first _gifted_ the mark.

 _Gifted?_ Danny flinched. _Where did that come from?_

He tried to focus and cool down, calling on his ice core, but was only met with more heat at a level dangerous even for normal humans. Around him, his friends and family tried to haul him to the bathroom to cool him off but could not get his massive frame to move towards the door. Jazz ran out of the room to find a bucket and fill it with cold water in a last ditch attempt to help him. They scrambled around him while the heat scrambled his brain.

Laying him down, they tried to take at least the top layer of his clothing off and positioned fans around him until Jazz and Valerie, as well, could bring back larger amounts of cold water. Maddie and Jack had been alerted in the three minute span by Dani and Lancer respectively. The mother went to the kitchen to grab ice and the father stormed to his son's room to offer some muscle. With his help, they were able to wrestle Danny in his delirium to the bathroom and put him under a steady stream of ice cold water.

It did little to help, unfortunately, and resulted in the fogging up Tucker's glasses and a haze in the small space. The female Fentons kept the supply of ice going and Sam kept trying to get Danny to respond to anything. But it was like he was in his own world. And, in a way, he was.

Danny was only aware of the heat and pain and the loud roar of whispers now, the exact same sound he heard when he was trapped in the barrier. He felt weak and hot like he was melting. The image of him in Phantom form as an ice cream came to mind; and as it melted and dripped away, Danny chuckled headily only worrying his family more. And it chuckled with him.

Behind the squiggles and blurs that he knew not to be his surroundings, a shadow watched him. Danny saw it without his eyes. It was as if his core, the parts that were not being negatively affected, recognized this other's presence and acknowledged him. The shadow flickered like a flame as Danny locked his eyes on it even though it just looked like he staring into space by everyone human. Its head cocked to the side and Danny mirrored the motion, resting his head on an offered hand hat felt so cold. Its head moved to the other side and his followed again. Straightening, the shoulders of the shadow shook just a little, then bobbed and swayed side to side and bent in half. Danny was perplexed by this but went along with the shadow as he could offer no explanation.

It straightened and a white sliver opened on the bottom part of where its face would be. The mouth mimed words and Danny just stared at it blandly. When it was done, it bent in half once more, this time in a bow of reverence, Danny thought passively, and disappeared. As it left, it waved and Danny tried to wave back but his consciousness faded into the black.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks to all who followed/favorited/continued to read the story/started to read it recently. I hope you all like this chapter and I'll see you soon!  
**

 **Responses to Reviewers:**

 **Kimera20: Thanks so much and I hope you liked this as well!**

 **Dark Saiyain Shinobi Raven:...that is a string of random words and letters. Your speech to text may be malfunctioning. Thanks for reading, though?**

 **Alright, s'time for me to sleep! Thanks again for dealing with me!**

 **Love, JennaUtena. Deuces!**


	6. Localized Storms

**A/N: Whoops...not long just going to say sorry and the next update will be in about two or three weeks. Oh and...**

 **Disclaimer: No, in the time during that break I have not purchased the rights to Danny Phantom.**

* * *

Chapter 6

Most of the time, waking up after not remembering falling asleep was not a delightful experience for Daniel Fenton. It usually happened because either he was knocked out or drugged or too tired to move any longer, all of which resulted in a wicked headache or migraine that would ruin the first half of his day at least. This time was no exception. Blinding pain shot through his head as soon as he realized he was awake. The light past his eyelids was too bright, making his face scrunch up in discomfort. Danny tested his limbs and extremities slowly, knowing that if he moved too quickly, the pain he was in would only increase. Unfortunately, the slight movements he had made already drew the attention of the person in charge of watching him that hour and her emotions overruled her common sense.

"Danny!" The screech rang through the room with Danny's heightened senses enhancing it to an unbearable sound.

He yelled in response, trying the shut the noise and light out, making the source of the sound stop talking and shut down. The person moved closer and put something cool and soft over Danny's eyes and let it overlap his ears. A hand patted his shoulder and ruffled his hair a bit before he could hear a light patter of feet leaving his room and closing the door. He was left alone in silence for a while, able to recuperate on his own for a little, before a commotion started some ways away. Voices were rising from down the stairs, arguing about something Danny was trying to tune out but he could hear them clearly, even more so than usual.

"What do you mean I can't go up there and see him?" One enraged person demanded.

A sigh emitted and was followed by, "He's in pain, Sam, understandably. He needs to adjust and wake up on his own before we bombard him."

"I—," Sam answered. "I just want to know that he's okay."

"We all do," a voice Danny recognized as Valerie followed up. "But, after that hit? He needs some conscious downtime. He'll come down when he's ready."

A huff came, probably from Sam, and the front door was opened and slammed shut. Silence echoed in Danny's ears for a while before he again tested his limbs and found that it was really only his head that hurt anymore and his temperature had resettled at his normal low which was hypothermic for normal humans.

"I'll go make sure she doesn't bite someone's head off," Tucker offered, following Sam and closing the door with much more care.

The others all muttered something noncommittal about getting back to work and disbanded, leaving Danny in sweet, blessed silence. As his mind caught up to his body, he tried to recall the last thing before he passed out. But something, along with a sharp pain whenever he tried to think, stopped him from doing so. He huffed in frustration and gave up with that task, choosing to focus on maneuvering himself out of the bed. He succeeded with his lower half, his feet now planted on the floor, and then tried to lift his upper half without moving his neck too fast. Rewarded with a dizzying sensation, he stopped his motion when he was sitting upright.

Dany blinked his eyes open a few times, getting adjusted to the light burning from outside signaling that he had slept at least a day and hopefully no more than that. He felt no different than usual, excluding the pulsing, almost stabbing, in his head, and he knew he had to get to work.

"Better now than later, I guess," he muttered, bracing himself. Slowly, he bent his knees and used his legs to stand himself up. A vertigo-like sensation made him wobble a bit but he succeeded in not falling down. He took a few tentative steps, testing his strength. When he figured he would be fine for at least a short while, Danny slowly made his way out of his room and down the stairs to where he thought at least one person would be. But by the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was sweating profusely and clutching the railing for dear life. His vision was spotting but he somehow made it to the long purple couch in the Fenton living room.

Danny rested sloppily on the comfy couch with his eyes closed until he heard something rustle in the kitchen.

He called out, "Can you get me some water, please…and maybe a sandwich, too? I feel like I haven't eaten in days."

The movement stopped and a clang of some object hitting a hard surface sounded from the kitchen. Feet scurried hurriedly from the kitchen and stopped at the wide archway separating the room from the living room. A gasp came from whoever was there—Danny didn't know because his eyes were closed and the person had yet said anything—and more rushed footsteps were heard, going away from the area.

The silence let Danny know he was once again alone and left, unfortunately, without food or water for which his stomach was beginning to loudly cry out. Other sounds could be heard from the basement, muffled yells and gasps, clanking of metal and glass, a stampede of footsteps, as he just laid there waiting for them.

When the sounds stopped and Danny guessed that everyone, or at least all who would come, were in eyeshot, Danny mumbled, "What does a guy have to do to get a drink around here? Die fully this time?"

"Don't even joke about that Daniel," a voice boomed as Jack took the lead in coming in to the space. The seriousness of the man's tone made Danny open his eyes to see his parents, Jazz, and Valerie coming around him with varying emotions of relief, confusion, and fatigue. He tried to sit up but was gently but firmly pushed down by his father.

"Fine," Danny relented, almost shooing Jack off after his compliance. "So how long was I out this time? four days?" He laughed a bit at the joke Tucker normally would have made but when no one else laughed, he peeped up, concerned at the quietness of his friends and family.

"A week, Danny," Maddie corrected. "You've been 'out' and completely unresponsive for a week."

No one else talked. Jazz was extremely fascinated with the carpet and Valerie seemed to be studying the wall paper.

"We couldn't get you to drink or eat anything. Anytime we tried to hook you up to an IV, the metal…it—it wouldn't pierce your skin. Your temperature wouldn't get down and it only got to normal yesterday. Your pupils wouldn't react to light, your reflexes wouldn't react to touch, and you stopped breathing for about four hours. You seized so many times we weren't sure you were going to wake up and if you did wake up we weren't sure you were going to be youandIcouldn'tbeartoseeyoulikethatyouweren'tmovingorblinkingorbreathingandIwasweweresososcaredandwetriedwetriedsohardtowakeyouupbutyouwouldn'tandwethoughtyouweredeadwelostyoumybabymypoorbaby—"*

"Maddie, sweetheart, it's okay," Jack soothed, moving over to his wife who had broken down and started rambling. He led her to another chair in the living room and rubbed her back in smooth circles.

Danny's startled eyes widened at seeing his usually strong mother fall apart at the thought of losing him. He never meant to worry her and wanted to help her but noticed something odd. Usually when someone he loved was in distress, his core would yearn to save them from it. Jazz had thought it was a mild form of an obsession which was always a possibility for him to develop since he is half ghost. Now, Danny felt nothing but the usual mild concern that any other human would feel and a growing hunger. But he decided to put this off for the moment and focus on the task at hand.

Valerie picked up where Maddie left off and said, "So we did everything we could to get you cool and kept watch to see if you would wake up. Jazz was with you when we woke up but it was decided that you would do better adjusting by yourself without us crowding you."

"Yeah," Danny affirmed, nodding on the couch. "I heard."

Valerie looked at him a bit funnily but then quickly changed her line of sight and coughed ashamedly. "But, um, maybe one of us should have helped you get…um, get…"

Jazz giggled a bit off to the side and went back to the kitchen, going to get Danny something light to eat and leaving the others to deal with the next problem. Maddie wiped her tears away and leaned more into Jack who welcomed her into his embrace.

"When we tried to keep you cool, we took most of your clothes off, honey," she said in-between her last few gasps, turning tears into chuckles. His mother pointed at him and his father started cheesing and looked like he was about to laugh.

Danny finally got the hint and looked down to see skin and skin and boxers—thank Clockwork…even if they were the black pair with neon green cartoon ghosts floating around—and more skin. His face rapidly flushed a mix of green and red from bottom to top like a thermometer placed into boiling water. As he mumbled a few words and grabbed two pillows, covering front and back, he ran up the stairs with much more stability than before and hurried to his room to get dressed. He heard bubbling laughter erupt from the living room and yelled down unintelligibly only making the group laugh harder.

* * *

While Danny was being fed, Tucker and Sam, along with Lancer and Dani were all told that Danny was awake and to come back. It took them about twenty minutes to regroup, during which all information gathered in the last week was amassed and they met in the kitchen. Those who could sat at the table, the rest stood or leaned against any surface available with Dani sitting on the counter. They waited until Danny ate his fill of the makeshift meal Jazz made for him and let him start the conversation.

"So…," he began, taking one last sip of water. "A week?"

"Well, more like nine days, seventeen hours, and twenty-si—seven minutes," Tucker corrected, gaining a slap from Valerie. "Give or take."

Danny huffed, crossing his arms, and asked, "So, what've you guys pulled up since then?"

Sam was the first to respond, as always when it came to matters directly concerning Danny. "That is not your main concern right now, Danny! You were unconscious and not even breathing for a time too long for a normal human!"

"Well, I'm not _normal_ , am I, Samantha?" He asserted, his eyes flashing a green fire. But seeing her flinch and hearing a couple of other people's breathing falter and hearts skip— _Since when could I do that?_ —Danny immediately backpedaled. "I mean…I'm sorry, Sam. It's just that, since my powers are growing, I think it would be alright to guess that I'm not always going to respond to…"

"Physical trauma?" Jazz offered after he could not verbally communicate his thoughts.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'm not always going to respond to 'physical trauma' like a fully-alive, no-ectoplasm-having human is going to act. I don't breathe in ghost form and I barely breath in human form anymore. Maybe it was just my ghostlier attributes showing because they were also trying to heal me faster."

"Yeah, maybe," Sam reiterated in obvious disbelief. The strained interaction between the two "lovebirds" only made the environment become even more tense. But now, especially with the time wasted by Danny's unconsciousness, time was of the essence.

Danny turned more so to Maddie and Jack to direct the group's attention back to the tasks at hand: securing the Ring of Rage and preparing for the oncoming wrath of Pariah Dark and his followers. They, in turn, looked at each other, contemplating the costs and benefits on putting Danny's current worrying state to the side and furthering their investigations.

"We found two possible sites," Jack, choosing for them all, spoke up. "One shipping company whose main location is at Cape Town, South Africa and another at an antiquities and artifacts dealership in Buenos Aires, Argentina."

Once again surprising all in the living room, Jack's calm delivery of the amassed information only solidified how important it was for them not to underestimate any opponents or overlook any variables. This time, the enemy would not underestimate them and their element of surprise was infinitesimally small.

"So," the orange-clad gargantuan continued, "we were deciding how to split our resources into three teams: home, Africa, South America. We didn't know when you would wake up, so we didn't include you in the plans. But now you can decide for yourself what you want to do."

This was agreed upon almost unanimously by the group days before Danny woke up. Everybody was still wary of how weak or hurt Danny was going to be when he woke up but they also knew that he was the most powerful and experienced. He was their best fighter. And even in his worst condition—as proof of the first time they faced against Pariah Dark before most of them knew he was Phantom—he would fight to his full death to protect those he recognized to be under his charge. So, it was completely futile to keep him out of the loop of their proceedings, no matter how much it hurt him or hurt them to see him get more hurt.

Tuck pulled up the reports of both of the locations on the television in the room with the aid of his PDA. The right side of the screen held images and reports of the company Koning se Ring in Cape Town which loosely translates to king's ring in Afrikaans. The company experienced a large dip in its net profit the quarters after Vlad's attempt to take over the world and it's financial and accounting reports changed drastically afterwards, showing signs of fraud and just overall bad business. On the left side of the screen was the same for Embela which translates to a mark or symbol in Spanish. Similar events mirrored in this company's reports as the rest of the businesses Vlad had. All of their shadier dealings had a staggering negative effect since the main mastermind was no longer even allowed on Earth and was currently, if still alive, floating in the near empty expanse of space.

After reviewing the information for a little under three minutes, Danny asked "What are the teams formed?"

Lancer decided to speak this time. "Those best not in the field were chosen to stay here. That includes myself, Phoebe—Danielle—and Tucker. From here, we will be able to aid you all at your destinations and rally those here just in case. The current Cape Town team consists of Maddie, Sam, and Valerie. They would best be able to fight in a more crowded, inner city area with Maddie taking the helm and Sam and Valerie at her sides with their usual arsenal of the Red Huntress' suit, lipstick blasters, the Fenton bazooka, wrist rays, and two bo-staffs. The current Buenos Aires team was just Jack and Jasmine with the Specter Peeler Mark III that was somehow able to be remade in such a short amount of time and Ghost Gloves that have dual capabilities as mini-portal generators and powerful ectoplasm cannons."

He stopped to take a breath but was interrupted by Danny saying, "Then I'll go with Dad and Jazz to even out the groups."

Any dissenting opinions were quieted with a stubborn glare from Danny, especially one from Danielle who looked like she wanted a piece of the action. But if the energy coming off of the mark on Danny's chest was enough to destabilize her, then there was no telling what would happen should she be exposed to larger and more concentrated amounts in the forms of attacks.

Without much more to say, they all looked at each other with varying levels of wariness, all understanding the risks of the tasks they were about to undertake. But they all recognized it as worth it. If they ultimately failed, there would be no second chances.

* * *

It took them all four more days to finally have their trips finalized. International governments gave the Fenton group the leeway to conduct their "research" which was the cover the group was going under. They saw no need in worrying too many people and causing a panic that would only hinder their progress. Those with contacts they trusted sent word all over the world of some details of the mission, excluding Danny's part in the bizarreness, and received insurances of backup should it be necessary. The teams located in South Africa and Argentina were alerted about a possible invasion and its controlled scale. Those teams, while giving permission for each group to use their facilities in exchange for information, were allowing the Fentons to lead should an invasion actually occur.

Two days later, the two teams were packed and ready to go. A while ago, Jack upgraded the Spector Speeder and the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle so that they both traveled faster and had better weapons and shielding capabilities. He had done this as an anniversary present for Maddie whom he planned on using the Speeder to take her to all the most haunted places around the world on a romantic and fruitful trip. Maddie found out, however, before he had the chance to surprise her and, while she was both flattered and impressed, used the opportunity to work with him making the same upgrades to the GAV. They ended up staying their entire anniversary trip covered in oil and ectoplasm and grease. It was dirty, tiresome, gritty work and they loved it.

It was decided that Maddie would be taking the Speeder so that she and the girls could fly over the Atlantic faster and Jack—well, with Jazz at the wheel—would be taking the GAV and driving all the way down to Buenos Aires along with Danny. Along with the specialized weaponry everyone had, they were also given Fenton phones, which were able for communication on any place on Earth and most places through the Ghost Zone and had tracking capabilities. Other than that, the only thing to worry about was massive meal, water, and snack preparation. Thankfully, with the stipend provided by the United States' government and a few others, the groups were able to nearly purchase all the chips, fruit, vegetables, microwavable meals, frozen meats, and bread in a 50-mile radius. While the purchases originally brought suspicion, when the Fenton name was brought up, everyone just waved it off as the family's usual antics.

They spent one more night together, with Danielle showing her new pasta making skills she got from Mr. Lancer of all people, and left at 8 o'clock the next morning. Tucker made sure the groups' electronics were working at optimum levels. Jack and Maddie examined the ectoplasmic weapons to make sure they would not explode. Dani tried once more to convince them to let her go and got Jack to agree before Jazz glared at them both. Damon Grey, Valerie's father and one of the few Amity residents actually briefed on what was happening, came to try to discourage her daughter but was met with Val's stubborn and righteous attitude he swore she got from her mother. He kissed her on the forehead, wished her and the rest well, and left before he burst into tears. Lancer nearly gave a speech to show his concern for his students and his now, closest friends, but was silenced effectively by a bear hug started by Jack and grown by the rest of the group affably glomping on, forming a squirming pile of hilarity and sharp elbows.

Team Triple Threat, named by Jack because of how the women actually did scare him sometimes and because of how formidable they were, left in the Specter Speeder, taking off at nearly supersonic speeds towards their destination. They were projected to make it in approximately ten hours even though the usual trip was well over twenty. Team Fudge, again named by Jack who had packed every empty nook and cranny with the delicious food, left in the GAV, with Jazz driving at a slower speed than her mother. They would also make it to their desired meeting place in ten hours.

Lancer, Tucker, and Dani were all left on the ground in front of Fenton works, waving goodbye at their friends, family, and girlfriend—which Tuck screamed at a pitch detrimental even for beings without super hearing. They stayed staring at the sky for a good five more minutes until Tucker received an invitation to play Doom by Danny and Sam who were already set up in their vehicles and Maddie sent a reminder to both Dani and Lancer about her next lesson in World History. Dani tried to ignore it for a while but, after glancing at an expectant Mr. Lancer, knew that he would have to get back to work. Lancer just laughed at the similarities between her and Danny as she huffed and dragged her feet reluctantly into the house.

* * *

"We're supposed to turn left when we reach a break in the trees right about there," Jazz pointed out to Danny who had been allowed to pilot for the past half hour after they had slowed down. "Zoe said there would be a wide opening where we could land a short walk away from their facilities."

They had been a little behind schedule, with Jazz flying less than their planned speeds. This put them a little behind their mother, Sam, and Val who sped even more than they already were and reached South Africa nearly two hours ago. From what the two upfront were hearing from their father who was talking to his wife in the back of the vehicle on a screen that opened on a side display, they had already eaten, met with the group in Cape Town, and were looking at the ectometers and any record of ectoplasmic activity whether or not it was deemed significant by the local teams. Sam and Val had left earlier with some of the younger members to talk to locals and inquire if they had witnessed anything out of the normal that looked like an I.R.L. glitch. But mostly, Jack was focusing on one thing.

"Fudge, Maddie!" He cried as if wounded. "I thought I packed enough. But it's all gone!" He hideously sobbed large crocodile tears at the passing of his favorite food and was met with the lovingly concerned and just a bit annoyed voice of his wife.

"But I thought you packed nearly 30 pounds of it, dear?" At the mention of the weight, most of the English speaking and empirical system understanding people around Maddie looked at the two in disbelief.

"I-I-I did," Jack got out between sobs. "But I ate all of it already!" The people around and behind Maddie were starting wonder how much smaller the man looked before devouring such a large amount of dessert but then heard Jack speak up again. "You know I have an abnormally fast metabolism, Mads. Look, I'm already starting to sink in on myself."

To prove to his wife that he was indeed imploding from hunger, the man tried to stretch his orange shirt but to no avail. Maddie went along with it anyway, knowing the real reason for the man's insistence.

"Oh, my poor baby," she cooed. "Well, I guess I'll just have to buy you a lot while we are here. I heard there's this one company that sells fudge from all over the world just a short drove away from he—"

"Thanks, baby! That's why I love you so much! I have to go now; the kids are saying that we're there!" The ever growing man yelled happily at his wife, ending the call before she could even get out the first to letters of his name. Satisfied, the giant moved to the front of the vehicle to sit next to his kids.

Danny could barely steer straight; he was just trying to keep the laughter in while his ridiculous parents talked. Jazz, on the other hand, just shook her head in disapproval at her father and then tried to point out the mound of fudge sitting next to him which just made him grab a few pieces and eat them merrily. She sighed something about him being detrimental to her, Danny's, and Dani's development but smiled at her father anyway. Jack smiled back, his teeth already stained here and there with small pieces of fudge.

Across the ocean, a group of people got ready to calm down a red-headed woman but were confused and a bit scared when she started laughing almost hysterically and then asked for directions to the largest fudge company in the country.

"Sho, 'ow ffr 'way rree," Jack said with his mouth still full. He swallowed after getting a sharp glare from Jazz, being reminded how scary Fenton women can get and then feeling pride that Danny picked someone as scary as Sam. "I meant, 'How far away are we?'"

"Just about five mi—"

"Here," Danny interrupted Jazz as he spotted the clearing with a circle of flattened grass large enough for a few cars and the GAV to land comfortably.

Even with Jazz breathing down his shoulder, Danny managed to gently place the GAV down and put it back into car mode. They grabbed various bags of materials: Danny with the heavier weapons and detection equipment, Jazz with the books and clothes, Jack with the pounds of food that they had manage to talk him out of eating earlier. They exited the GAV, with Danny at the lead and Jack in the rear, looking around at the small space before them and the surrounding trees.

It was in the middle of the evening and the one whom they were supposed to meet was nowhere in sight. Twenty minutes passed by with the three just looking around, having placed their belongings on the ground a while ago. In the short time that they had been there, the sun had fallen considerably, making the tree line even more ominous looking. Any longer and Jazz would have gotten anxious and Jack even more hungry than he already was. But Danny felt them before he heard them.

Three whispers of something were moving closer to the area. He couldn't really see them or hear them as well as he just knew that they were there, like a sixth sense added on to Danny's other heightened senses.

"To dad's left," Danny called, when his hearing caught up to his new awareness. He faced the direction from which the newcomers were approaching, focusing the way Jack and Jazz should be looking. "How many did you say were coming Jazz?"

Curious to the line of questioning, Jazz hesitantly answered. "Just one. Zoe said she was coming to meet us alone."

"Well then someone decided to tag along or…" Danny trailed, now seeing a few flashes of color through the shadows the trees from where the whispers of essence were coming.

"You think they have fudge?" Jack asked, focusing more on his stomach even though the added amount of people whom they did not know made his fingers itch towards an ectopistol secured by his hip.

"Maybe..." Jazz mumbled, trying to get into a defensive position since she had to actually think about it and not instinctually react like her younger brother.

They decided not to act and wait for the potential threat to come to them. Fortunately, no immediate signs of confrontation occurred when three people, two females and one male, emerged from the darkening forest.

The middle-aged woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair in tight coils in the front jumped a bit at the concentration at which the Fentons were giving her group but relaxed and smiled as she saw Jazz, making Jack calm down a bit. Danny, however started a staring match with the man who looked like he had everything to prove. His frame rivalled Jack but in muscle, accentuated by the ripped shirt he wore and the tattoos circling his arms. The other woman, who looked to be just a bit older than Jazz, had black and yellow dyed hair and was dressed in a style best described as punk jungle explorer. She put her weight on one of her legs and looked as if she would have rather been anywhere but there.

"Jasmine," the woman in front called, smiling delightedly and then gesturing her companions to follow her.

"Zoe," Jazz replied, moving forward and making sure Jack and Danny followed her. "How are you? Are the new whips treating you well?"

The woman patted her hip where a coiled silver whip was held in place by a strap on a belt. "Your mother has a knack for making versatile weapons. I must thank her for giving me the newest model."

"You don't have to!" Jack exclaimed with a wide grin covering half of his face. "Jazzy made the newest one. I knew my daughter had it in her. All Fentons do!"

Jazz blushed profusely at the blatant praise of her large father while Jack just beamed more. At the notion that Jazz had improved the weapon, the other girl in the group appraised Jazz analytically. The muscle head minutely scoffed in derision which was only heard by Danny and Zoe. The former glared at the man a bit before addressing Zoe.

"Jazz has talked a lot about you, ma'am. It's nice to meet you face to face," he said, trying to sober his father's exuberance.

"'Nice', kid? You do know what's going on. Don't you?" The hulking man mocked, gaining a reproachful look from Zoe.

"Cá lmese," Zoe ordered. "And do I look like a 'ma'am' to you, boy?" The last bit was pointed towards Danny who fumbled a bit before blushing.

The bumblebee-haired girl to Zoe's right began to laugh at Danny's misfortune. "Don't sweat it, man. She's just giving you a hard time. Zoe here's probably old enough to be your grandmother. Besides, manners on someone as young as you aren't such a bad thing."

The comment did nothing to mitigate Danny's blushing. And, when the girl added a wink and a more than flirtatious look pointed to him, Danny's face just lit up even more along with just a tiny hint of green from the ectoplasm reacting as well. Thankfully, the three were too far away to detect that.

"Amelia, no picking up young boys until the worry's passed. And Carlos, no instigating any trouble," Zoe barked, introducing her compatriots while admonishing them.

"Too bad," Amelia mock whined, still looking Danny up and down who finally had to look away and to the ground which only made Carlos gruffly laugh at the kid's embarrassment.

The sun had lowered even more since they had shown up and the forest was starting to look daunting even for Jack. So, Zoe motioned for them to follow her and her people back through the path they just took while offering to carry any bags the Fentons had. Carlos, of course, went to grab the largest and heaviest looking bag Jack was carrying. Jack looked worried at him taking it at first, since the weight was excessive with how densely he had packed the food, but Carlos insisted. When Jack finally relented, Carlos took the bag and planned on hefting it over his shoulder. However, the bag had other plans and fell noisily to the ground. Carlos looked at the bag in disbelief and then back up to the group, watching the shock of some and the smugness of Danny.

"I told you, son," Jack said, handing Carlos a visibly lighter bad while picking back up the heavier bag. Carlos just grumbled something that was definitely not English under his breath.

Amelia just laughed at his misfortune while saddling up to Danny and looking much more involved. Danny tried to play off his mild discomfort at how close she was getting and just chuckled when she lightly smacked him on the arm. He would have rubbed the back of his neck in shyness but had his hands too full to do that or shake off the flirtatious older woman. Danny really didn't want the extra attention and was pretty sure Jazz or Jack was going to blab about it.

Jazz was watching her brother closely with Amelia and did not trust the woman at all. Zoe tried to talk to her as a distraction. But as Zoe was about to gain her attention, Amelia leaned into Danny's ear and whispered something that made the boy squeak in mild protest and blush more as the woman laughed at his naïveté. Jazz sighed at her little brother's innocence and winced, knowing the talking to Danny was going to get from Sam and, by train of blame, all of the other women in their family-group.

"This is going to be a long trip."

* * *

*you and I couldn't bear to see you like that you weren't moving or blinking or breathing and I was we were so so scared and we tried we tried so hard to wake you up but you wouldn't and we thought you were dead we lost you my baby my poor baby

 **A/N: Thanks again, everyone, for your continued support. As of now, it sort of looks like there could be a sequel to this but I have little idea where that'll go since I'm not even half-way done with this...so...yep.**

 **Responses to Reviewers:**

 **Kimera20: I'm glad you thought so! There'll be more action in the next two chapters so I hope you'll like that too!**

 **Pheek: Yep, I always thought of Phoebe as Holden's little clone who had a few tweaks that ended up making their character's actions different but their thought processes almost the same. And with the ducks, when we read the book, my class spent an entire week arguing about possible answers to that like the most fanciful mess came out of people's mouths and it ended in a giant argument if Neverland was a part of the Fae Realm or Avalon or the NeverNever and what separated things. Lines were drawn. Academic blood was shed. Friendships were broken for a long time. We took these things very seriously!**

 **Guest: You're very welcome, random internet traveler!**

 **Til next time! Love, JennaUtena. Deuces!**


	7. In the Dark of the Night

**A/N:**

 **I think that was long enough to count as a hiatus. Well, this chapter just didn't wan to happen but everything will be so fast-paced after this that it will seem as if I am rushing! I'll keep with my writing but I have less than two hours a day for non school/career work! Sigh...the life of a newly inducted adult...**

 **And have you seen the drawings Butch did for the 10 year anniversary?!**

 **Disclaimer: Although I appreciate the love, I cannot take credit for Danny Phantom which I do not own.**

* * *

Chapter 7

Except for the hours following their separate arrivals, neither team had much to report. It was quiet on both the Argentinian and the South African fronts. The people back home had no new news of importance other than Dani's recapping of her lessons to Maddie and Jack. So, instead of lazing about, Maddie decided to work with the senior scientists while Sam and Val trained, learning new fighting styles and group moves they could use in close quarters. The exchange of information happened amicably in the Eastern hemisphere but the Western had a completely different dynamic.

Zoe tried to keep the group on task or at least not bicker like children but that seemed to be an increasingly daunting task.

Jack, the oldest of the assembled and thought to be the most knowledgeable, was often pulled into the childish antics of Carlos who was still trying to save face after being shown up in the feat of strength earlier. It only increased as Jack's obliviousness fed Carlos' growing anger with the man's need to be the best physically being overshadowed by the inherent strength of Jack's frame. As the sun began to set on their second full day out of Amity Park, the two large men were locked once again in a battle of strength and dexterity as they trained with new and improved Ecto-bazookas in an open field near the research facility in Caballito provided by the government of Argentina as part of their newest attempt in all of the world outside of Amity Park to modernize their knowledge about and capabilities in dealing with ghosts.

Danny would have helped his father just because Carlos was seriously annoying but the boy had his hands full. Amelia, who had been cold upon initial arrival, had warmed up to Danny immensely, teasing and flirting to—not with—the underage boy at every opportunity. When the age difference was pointed out—as she was almost ten years older than Danny—she would just say that the legal age of maturity was much lower where they were and he was soon to turn 18 anyway. When Jazz told her that Danny was already in a serious relationship, Amelia just scoffed and said, "What could a little girl give him that I couldn't?" Danny angered for a second at the insult pointed to Sam but then blushed profusely at the insinuation which just made Amelia laugh and sidle up to him even more.

Zoe, failing with getting Carlos on track and never before getting Amelia to do what she wanted, tried to focus on Jazz and get reliable information from her. She figured that if the two of them stayed on task then they could direct the rest of their group filled with scientists, military and civilian, and other employees and volunteers—a total team of 60 spread throughout the country, including the five in the city being her, Carlos, Amelia, a soldier in the same troop as Carlos, and a squirrely old man whose family had been in the country since before European settlers arrived. But, Jazz was so worried about her family that it was entirely too much of a lost cause. But one day, after fruitless attempts to collect and spread clear information and with the pestering of Jack and near molestation of Danny, she finally snapped.

"Enough!" Zoe yelled, commanding the attention in their food hall of all of the amalgam team who were there for dinner. "While nothing maybe happening, we still need to focus and be on task and not act like fucking children! Fighting all of the time! Teasing each other! Just being ignorant on purpose! All of us are here for a reason and if you don't start acting like it then you might as well start looking for new employment!"

Mostly equally admonished—though Jack was a bit confused, thinking that he was just having a fun bonding time with the younger ghost hunter—the eight made plans for patrols, classes, and training sessions so that they would be a well-functioning group should they be needed. And in the next few days, they all took Zoe's mini-rant to heart.

Carlos, threatened even by the diminutive Zoe, put his big ego away to be instructed by Jack on how exactly to handle the larger weapons. The larger man taught him how to effectively balance the bazooka and shoot accurately even with limited vision. Jack had tremendously improved his aim after training alongside his entire family, though he still shot wide sometimes when distracted by the prospect of catching a ghost first or fudge. They worked well together and had chances to bond when Carlos' military friend, Micah, baked a triple fudge cake with extra gooey filling. The three became the best of friends after that with Jack admiring Micah's baking and Micah and Carlos admiring how much Jack was able to eat in one sitting and still physically function afterwards.

And Amelia, well, not even Zoe's threat could really straighten her out. She still tormented Danny at any available moment with badly concealed innuendos but at least she did it in jest and not seriously...for the most part. With Danny now being able to focus on the work they were supposed to be doing a little better, he was able to work on training them, to the surprise of the Argentinian group. Even back home, it was Danny who would take point in leading team exercises and working with new group maneuvers. Originally, he did it so he would do most of the fighting with his ghost powers and not have to worry that much about the safety of his human friends and family and less powerful clone. After a while, he had realized that, even with his ever-expanding powers, he could never alone shoulder the weight of protecting the world from extra-dimensional threats that may or may not arise. And when more than one country and governmental body began to question the citizenship—or better yet ownership—of Danny Phantom, well...They still had trouble when it came to requests, public and private, for the superpowered teen. The only reason they knew about most of them was because they were addressed to the Fentons since no one else really knew how to contact the ghost. And then there were the multiple attempts to capture him by shadow organizations that would benefit from his abilities. But those are stories for another time.

So Danny led them through the stretches and basic fighting techniques that his friends and family taught aspiring ghost hunting teams when they came to Amity Park for lessons. He challenged their flexibility and unspoken teamwork as well as their adaptability when concerning abrupt changes in situations. They especially focused on multitasking with the threat of a ghostly invasion while saving civilians and preventing themselves from not getting too badly hurt from the environment around them. They had no real way of knowing how bad the fight would get when it started but, by the end of Danny, Jazz, and Jack's time there, their Argentinian counterparts would know somethings new at least.

Jazz taught the metaphysical and physical aspects of ghosts. While some may not have understood why knowing the reason behind a ghost was important to interactions with the entity, the Amity Park natives had come to realize that a lot could be learned from the reasons behind a ghost's actions. With everything being adapted to the ghost's obsession—or the ghost's obsession adapting to what the ghost can do in some rare cases—attack and defense strategies can be assumed from what a ghost wants or does. Along with that, using certain taunting techniques—Danny's favorite in many cases—or calming techniques—Jazz's go-to—can influence a fight with a ghost that could distract them long enough to capture them or reason with and dissuade them. Moreover, since many ghosts were just curious about the living world that had changed without them, they were trained how to distinguish between malevolent ghosts and benevolent ghosts or spirits who did not particularly like nor dislike the living, namely Danny's allies and enemies. Cores were also discussed and how basic knowledge of the elements could be used to amplify or nullify the attacks and defenses of different ghosts.

Fortunately, though, no one noticed how Jack and Jazz deferred to Danny most of the time when teaching the others things they learned about ghosts. And if they did, they mostly attributed it to the family checking in with each other to make sure they forgot nothing. While Danny's Phantom secret was now known to his family, friends, Mr. Lancer, and Mr. Grey, they all decided it best to keep his secret from the public eye and that included other ghost hunters and researchers that might have gotten a little...excited at the anomaly of Danny's real life example of Schrödinger's cat. So, in preparation of the inevitable, the Fenton's led the Argentinian group through ghost boot camp. They hoped that it would be enough. But somehow, they knew otherwise.

* * *

"Ingenious! The idea that the Zone could be connected to other realities or other Earths or other inhabitable planets because of the dissimilarities between the ghosts' recollections of events and accurate and reliable records of histories! And it would be quite possible, Jack! Remember what Danny said about Frostbite and his people having a language that they said they developed from their ancestors or their living counterparts that resembled nothing ever seen before on Earth? We should really look into this more after this is over..."

Jack could listen to his wife ramble for hours. The fire in her eyes and words matching the reds and oranges of her hair—it was one of the things that first drew him to her all those years ago before they held doctorates. Their children, on the other hand, were so used to their parents' going on for hours on end that they had escaped a half hour before which was still over an hour into the video chat that had been set up earlier that day.

Jazz was nearby on a Fenton phone that connected her to Dani and Mr. Lancer. Dani was part of the conversation earlier but the two older individuals had unintentionally shut her out when they started to talk about the importance of a diverse library during Dani's formative years. She was currently reading _The Bluest Eye_ by Toni Morrison which both adults figured would be great for the young clone since her self-identity had yet to be fully realized. They went on to discuss other benefits of the book which of course delved into spoilers which Dani was not keen on hearing. So, she had long since taken the ear piece out and started on her reading assignment for the day. She, like her older counterpart, never really liked school work, but where Danny was attracted to science, she was enamored with the arts. She had had her fill of real life adventures and was starting to like excursions of the literary kind.

Danny was off to the side on a tablet having a three-way call between him, Sam and Val, and Tuck. The four teenagers were gushing over the fun they were having outside of the preparations. Tuck finally had time to tinker more with the ghost tech and some devices he was making himself for gaming and communication. He claimed that it was going to replace the PDA to which Val replied that the PDA had long since been replaced. In mock hurt, Tuck grumbled that he would not show her the new mock up for her suit which should allow her to call separate parts instead of the full body along with a camouflage mode and thinner, stronger, and more flexible armor. Val tried to get him to send it to her, her interest piqued, but Tuck decided to tease her about it a bit more.

It was so nauseatingly adorable that Danny and Sam simultaneously said, "Love birds!" Tucker and Valerie, effectively ripped out of their tunnel-vision, blushed lightly and sputtered in disagreement.

"Geez, Sam. Is this what we were like?" Danny taunted, preparing to milk his friends' embarrassment as much as possible.

"Oh, I don't know, Danny. I'm pretty sure they went on longer than we did," Sam offered, not even trying to hide the grin on her face.

Fortunately for her and Tucker, Valerie got over her awkwardness and goaded, "'Went on longer'? Well according to you, when you and Danny start you have a really hard time stopping. I mean, you guys are aware that people are around when you make-out in public, right?"

Satisfied by the change in topic, Valerie sat back smug while elbowing Sam. Sam, the forever Goth, would swear to the end of her life that she did not blush that day but the bright red complexion caught by Tucker who screenshotted it would beg to differ. Danny in shock muttered something about girls talking too much about private things to which Tucker responded in kind. While the boys joined in their camaraderie, their girlfriends just laughed.

The individual groups laughed and talked about ghost work, not ghost work, and each other. They honestly missed each other and the underlying tone of something coming at no foreseen time was grating on all of their nerves. Nevertheless, the group tried not to give in to worry and fear. They had gone through ghost invasions before, a twisted future, alternate timelines with megalomaniac rulers, and a near planetary apocalypse. They could get through this. They had to get through this.

It was nearing 8 at night with Danny, Jack and Jazz, meaning that it was almost 1 in the morning with Sam, Valerie, and Maddie. They bid each other goodnight and left their devices on standby just in case of emergencies. The South Africa team went to sleep after a long day and with the promise of an even longer day ahead of them. The Argentina team separated to their individual living quarters. Jazz settled down with a book. Jack changed into a giant orange onesie with a striped sleeping cap before going on to tinker with a few weapons to increase their efficiency and maybe add a few surprises like compartments for extra ectoplasm needed to charge the weapons or first aid supplies to assist whomever was fighting. Danny meditated in his room, floating only after satisfied that no one was going to come through his door which he had locked as an extra security measure.

Mediation served for him what marijuana did for some people. It gave him a weightless high, separating him from the world around him and allowing him to focus more on himself and the energy that made up his living and non-living being. He was had not had the chance to center himself since before the anomaly in Amity showed up, leaving him a bit more anxious than usual. So when he finally reached the zen state he needed to fully relax, he floated, inwardly and outwardly, in peace.

He recognized his human body, moving over every limb, hair, and scar. Going deeper, he went through his layers of skin, fat, organs, muscle, and bones to the very blood in his veins. From that blood he detected the inhuman elements of the ectoplasm and followed its movement through his body as it circulated, intertwining his ghost half with his human half. He felt his heart pulse and thrum, part of his ghost core showing through the veil of his transformation.

He went past that, still in his human form but grasping at his ghostliness, his core vibrating a bit faster in response. He felt the replenishing of his energy as he observed his ice core, noticing how it was still where his human heart lay, both overlapping and somehow coexisting. The frigid energy it exuded gave a familiar comfort to Danny as he inspected it. Less volatile now that he had Frostbite to help him harness it, his core wriggled and hummed in him, providing the energy he needed to have a stable ghost form and powers, unlike Dani and Vlad who just had ectoplasm in their blood and no core. He envisioned himself surrounded by the energy and approaching its center.

In his mind, a ball of white-blue plasma accepted him and let him swim through it. He was there for awhile, lost to the time outside of his mind, until he found something he had not seen before. A bright green flame burned near the center of the core. Where he had seen something like it before did not bother Danny in his languid state; so he went to inspect it, wondering if this was a sign that his core was maturing or a new power but mostly just giddily confused at the sudden change in color scheme.

He directed himself towards it, stopping close enough to reach out a grab it, and circled it, noticing that it moved more in the nonexistent breeze when he moved a bit closer and calmed when he moved farther away. So he stilled, questioning its existence when it moved, lurching a bit towards him. He sped away, starting to not trust this foreign flame when it decided to focus not on his but move towards the center of his core.

"Hey!" He called out, getting between the flame and the most sensitive part of his being that fueled his instincts.

The flame looked angry for a second, snapping at him before it tried to move around Danny and go back to its duty. But Danny intercepted it again, making its movement stop short. The game between the two continued until the flame flickered a darker color. The entire situation was enough to bring Danny mostly out of his almost euphoria. He could tell something was wrong and that whatever this was wanted something from him he probably would not give voluntarily.

The now darker flame jetted towards the center of his core, tired of the boy's interference. Danny could see that he would not get between the two in time with the distance it had already closed in so he reached out with the intent of pulling the cognizant fire away. When his hands grasped the fire, he was allowed a split second of surprise when he realized that it felt like ectoplasm and not actual flames before it quickly ran up his arms and began to cover his body.

"What the hell?" Danny freaked out, grasping at the invader but succeeding at nothing. It enveloped his lower half and chest and limbs, moving to cover his face.

"No!" He struggled. As the flame began to cover his ears, he thought he heard a deep chuckle which he thought he would never hear again. Covering his mouth, it smothered his yells and shouts of defiance. Only his eyes were left and the rest of the flames immobilized him as they solidified their hold on his body. He would not stop struggling, fearing the way the chuckle escalated as the flames moved him closer to his center. Danny had no idea what it wanted with him but, knowing it was not good, he fought his darnedest. But he only succeeded in making himself tired.

He almost resigned himself to whatever the thing wanted with him when he felt a sharp jolt on his side—his real side—in his real body. Silently praying for it to happen again, he held on to that pain which almost brought him out of his meditative state. Thankfully, whoever was on the other side answered his silent plea with an even stronger shock.

The flame flickered in anger as a roar echoed through his ears but the boy's body disappeared as he was brought out of his mind. His eyes opened as he gasped and jumped up from his position on the floor. Frantic teal eyes searched his face before he recognized them to belong to Jazz.

"You wouldn't answer when I yelled your name," Jazz sighed, relieved at him but still on edge about something. "Sorry about that, by the way," she apologized while waving the ecto-taser in the air with it still sparking green arcs that elicited the pain he was in earlier.

He was about to ask what exactly was the problem but she answered before he could get a word in. "An alarm was tripped exactly over the location of the building holding the principle offices for Embela. The police have already started to move people out of the area but thankfully it's not heavily residential."

She pulled him up, pushing his shoes at him and racing to the main entrance of the building. He followed behind her even though his side still ached from the shock and his mind was reeling from whatever he just went through. With the way Jazz was looking at him over her shoulder every few steps, he knew she was worried about it too even though she saw nothing but her brother meditating. But the situation now took precedence over whatever that weirdness was.

Breaking through the front door, Jazz led her slightly dazed brother to the Speeder with Jack already at the wheel.

"Where are—"

"Zoe took Amelia and woke a few others to the stations they set up around their projected perimeter for the invasion. Carlos and Micah took most of the gear to distribute it to the police and military forces," Jack answered succinctly, game face on. The usually friendly giant was now hardened by their responsibility and his demeanor was enough to wake Danny up the rest of the way.

"Then where are we headed?" Danny inquired, helping Jazz find her suit so she can prepare and putting on his own with which he could use his powers and not incite suspicion among anyone but them.

"To the epicenter," Jack replied with the Speeder already off the ground. "Your mother has already gotten permission to speed to get here so they should arrive in two hours."

No one commented on the large time span. The attack in Japan lasted for only a half hour. By the time the rest got there, the battle would be over. They hoped against reason that they would be enough.

But Danny did not hope. He knew something was going to happen. And he wasn't sure if they would make it out the same.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for the patience and love!**

 **Response to the Reviewer:**

 **DB-KT: I'm glad you got excited and sorry about the break. It would be way too boring for him to be asleep for that long! He probably won't have much time to sleep for a long while now!**

 **I'll keep on it now that my semester schedule is set! It's my last year of undergrad!**

 **Love, JennaUtena. Deuce** s!


	8. Fire Fight

**A/N: I am so sorry for that late update but ever since I got into my PhD program, I've come to recognize time as a man-made construct that is fickle at best and horrid at worst. But never give up on something if you think you can get through it! And no...I still don't own Danny Phantom**

* * *

It was dead silent when the three Fentons made it to the high-rise. It took them ten minutes to get there after the alarm had gone off. By then, the police had successfully evacuated the area within a 3-mile radius. The local team was still checking alerts throughout the area, making sure that none of the equipment was faulty. So, for the while, Danny, Jack, and Jazz were alone.

Except for the klaxons in the background and the flashing alarm lights, nothing disturbed the heavy silence and still of the night. Even the animals seemed to have vacated. Truly while that was best for secrecy and safety's sake, it did not promise good things to come.

With Jazz at his left and their dad at his right, Danny led as they walked since they had left the GAV behind to easily navigate the narrower streets. Jazz read off the instructions on the GPS and Jack kept one eye on both of his children and the other on their surroundings. Their usual light-hearted banter was absent considering the situation's severity. It was not the time for quips nor smiles nor fudge. The air was thick with anticipation and—

"Is that raw ectoplasm?" Jazz incredulously asked herself, looking at the faint swirling green in the air that surrounded them like a fog. They all knew it was and that this much of the substance never showed up on this side of the Realms unless a large concentration of ghost activity had or was about to occur.

Danny's Ghost Sense, in response, was going crazy. He was grateful that they were the only ones around because he could not contain all the wisps of blue that came from his core out of his mouth. He shivered violently as they neared the building.

"Danny, what are you feeling?" Jazz whispered as they closed in, only two blocks away now.

"I'm not sure," Danny started. "I know it's here...don't know how, though. But I can feel it." He ended with a shudder and another cloud of blue mist came out of this mouth.

Jack nodded and spoke into a radio he had attached to his hip, alerting Zoe and the rest that they had made it and that nothing had happened yet. She responded back in kind and commanded everyone at the periphery to start moving in on their location. Radio silence followed.

"Your mother and the others will be here in 7 hours, 4 if they use some of the new upgrades since they have permission. Do you think it'll happen before then?"

And, of course, since luck was always on the Fenton's side, a gargantuan green line appeared in the sky, about 200 feet above their heads, directly atop the building. A raucous cacophony of roars and thunder sounded as the line opened to a gaping maw to the Ghost Zone in all it's terrific glory. Ectoplasm swirled pure and free. Islands and random disorganized items in the distance floated. And at the circumference, a massive army of red eyed, green glowing warrior skeletons stood eerily motionless as they looked down, waiting.

Even with their expertise, the Amity three faltered in surprise before readying themselves. Jack yelled at the radio as the rest rushed to the area while gearing up the Ghost Gauntlets, Jazz fed energy into the new Specter Peeler, and Danny transformed.

But even with all their preparations, they were still not ready.

A single figure cloaked in writhing darkness appeared in the middle of the portal. They were too far away to pick any discerning features, but Danny could feel their gaze focus on him. The familiarity accompanied with it only gave Danny a different set of chills.

The figure floated down, into the Real World, and called out in a garbled tongue that, while not yelled, spread clearly even to them at the ground. Though Danny had paled and gasped, Jazz had no time to ask him what the ghost had said before the others rained down, drove after drove, wave after wave, of skeletons and half rotted Vikings, soldiers, Samurai, and the like. As soon as one line of them landed, they would spread outwards in a circle away from the building, making room for the next line to land. It was a never-ending waterfall of ghosts, so much more than those that appeared in Japan, as if those planning the attack knew there would be effective resistance this time.

The marching legion made their way closer to the three who stood their ground. It wasn't until an ectobeam from behind them blasted a close Confederate soldier that they jumped into action, Amelia closely behind.

"Get your butts in gear, guys!" She yelled, only giving Phantom one look of confusion before firing off at the enemy.

Jazz's suit allowed her to combat them by hand. She absolutely obliterated any that came near her, either beating them down or shocking them until their ectoplasm dissipated. Jack did the same thing with his reinforced jump suit and Ghost Gauntlets, using the latter to rip them to shreds and the former to fire using automated targeting systems. Danny, as Phantom, blasted directly through the first line of offense, and shot off any attack he could: ectoblasts, ice shards, lasers, punches, kicks.

Allies of Zoe and Carlos and others that they had seen for the past few days could be witnessed fighting back with the same fervor and even more desperation. Most, not used to this amount of fighting, offered support from a distance, firing rounds at ghosts that got too far away or that snuck up on someone.

They mostly stayed away from the Fentons and the weird ghost that was fighting with them. They looked absolutely terrifying with animalistic fury, not stopping as they ended ghost after ghost. But Phantom was the most fearsome of all. With eyes dead fixed and aglow without pupil, attire dripping in the ectoplasm of his foes, fangs growing from his top and bottom rows of teeth, and growling indiscernible obscenities, he looked like Death. One soldier shot at Phantom, convinced he was evil, and got a feral snarl and rebuff from Jack in response. They were thanking their lucky stars that he was not against them.

* * *

It didn't end.

For every downed ghost, two more appeared. For every inch of ground gained, a foot was lost. It was hopeless and futile. And they were getting tired. The ectoplasm in their weapons was self-replenishing but their energy was not. Shots strayed and hits missed. Injuries among the humans was only increasing. Already, two had lost limbs with thankfully cauterized wounds and several others were freely bleeding from wounds behind tattered clothing.

The only one who didn't falter was Phantom. Yet, even he would not be enough for all the ghosts they had to fight with minimal damage to their surroundings. It seemed that the enemy knew that too and didn't send any more soldiers down, letting those already there deal with the pesky humans.

But Clockwork must have been looking out for them as Zoe's radio crackled alive. "Alright, everybody!" She yelled into the fray and radio. "Activate the shield!"

Those in the know pressed the buttons on their individual remotes, causing green beams to shoot from seven boxes placed equidistant at a quarter mile radius around the building. The beams elongated and stretched wide, melding into each other and closing just above the opened portal. The entire place was enclosed in a violently bright green light as the shield completed. As the light dimmed, the humans exclaimed in joy and some made their way to the barrier to recuperate and still aid the fighters who kept going.

The few ghosts to make it past the perimeter were swiftly dealt with and the area inside was quickly being handled. The humans had fallen into a good routine, buddying up to minimize casualties though they still happened. They were dealing with the fight excellently, but it was still just a minor part of the problem.

Jazz ducked the swipe of a scabbard and knocked the offending skeleton into the bayonet of another, clearing her view of the building. The figure that started the attack had disappeared, but she saw him just before he phased inside. Knowing that he was most likely going for the Ring, she tried to get her brother's attention. However, her attention was soon grabbed by a deteriorating Conquistador getting awfully close with a side-sword. She would just have to find another way to signal him.

Jack had miraculously seen this too and was working his way to his son. Unfortunately, an infuriated Hun charged at him, making a move to slash at his side. Jack caught on too slowly and was about to be skewered. A sharp tug away from the danger signaled his rescue, followed by a growling jumpsuit clad Halfa parrying with an ice sword of his own. The Hun's weapon went flying and the ghost itself shrieked in hate as it disintegrated around the sword in its gullet.

"You okay?" Phantom asked, still fending off attacks as Jack righted himself.

"Fine, son," the man responded before making Danny duck and sending a punch to a ghost who got too close. "They've started the search of the building. This was just a distraction. Your sister, the rest, and I can take care of this mess."

Danny was about to object as his father spun, ecto-pistols from odd compartments in his jumpsuit firing at seemingly random enemies. The grim determination on the older man's face and the sounds of victorious battle around them calmed him. Danny knew they could fight and win. So, he turned to the building, trying to pinpoint where the ghost could have gone in. But his father called for him one more time.

"Danno! Be safe."

Phantom paused and responded, "Always," before rocketing off, bowling through enemies and phasing into the building. They slashed and lashed out at him the entire time until he entered the office space. Some who had turned to run after him abruptly stopped and focused on the humans just outside, ignoring his interference. And if that wasn't enough to throw Danny for a loop, the atmosphere in the building was.

It felt so still, deader than the air outside before the attack. Even with the fight visible on the other side of the doors, inside the lobby all sounds were muffled into near nonexistence. It was as if he were in a different world, looking at the battle from an outsider's point of view. Like nothing pertained to him and nothing could touch him.

Danny shook the feeling off and faced the main area. Closing his eyes, he focused his Ghost Sense on the building, expanding his awareness through the ground floor and working his way up. He felt nothing and was perplexed before searching below him, even though the schematics said the ground floor was the lowest level. He found, much to his ire, multiple subterranean floors filled with possibilities that they would have to worry about later. A flare of familiar energy nearly 50 feet below caught his attention and he knew that this was where he would find them.

Danny in Phantom-form intangibly flew down to his destination all the while pushing back the foreboding sense prickling at the nape of his neck.

* * *

They scowled at the offending shield barring them from retrieving the Ring. It was invisible but flared a volatile pink in the presence of ectoplasm. Their King would not be pleased at this set back. The humans outside had already decimated many of the subjects. Reinforcements might soon be necessary. But for now, they would have to find a way to get past the security on the containment device.

It was certainly more advanced than the first which was designed to keep just humans out. This had reinforced measures of multiple ghost proof shields that could only be undone, they figured, by manipulating the small, waist level stand in front of them. The imprint of a hand was there, and they doubted that their hand would turn off the shields.

Sighing at the unavoidable and tedious destruction, they reached for a sword hidden by their cloak of dark flame. Running their hand down the blade as another held the hilt, they watched as green glowing glyphs etched themselves on the pitch-black material. Once it was finished, they weighed the weapon in their hands and faced the shield.

" _Oh, how I tire of needless violence_."

They raised the sword above their head and sliced down at the barrier. It sizzled meekly in resistance before parting with the sword, the pink still alight but forming a sliver of an opening through which the figure stepped. They shrugged off the oppressive feeling of foreign, supercharged ectoplasm as the next obstacle came to view: a large titanium alloy vault with the shiniest and most expensive locks money could buy.

It was only the flare of energy behind them that made them stop from phasing through the door.

"Hey, you!" Danny yelled as he finally appeared, blasting forward as the figure smirked. He yelped when the regenerated pink shield shocked and barred him from crossing deeper into the room.

"What the…?" The Halfa rubbed his head before glaring at the now invisible shield.

They laughed at the ghostling's brashness, commenting, " _I would hope you to be more cautious in the future, young Phantom_."

Danny glared back at the vaguely humanoid swirling mass of black flame. "Well, I wouldn't have to if you didn't put up this shield and…Wait. You're not speaking English, are you?"

" _Decidedly not_." Their head tilted in measured disappointment. " _Do you not know of your own tongue? Regardless the shield is not mine, but of the False One. He believed it would keep any of Us out…the fool_."

Ever the eloquent, Danny responded, "I—uh, what?"

The figure scoffed before turning away once more and approaching his next task.

"Now, wait up!" Danny yelled from behind the shield as it flared up again from his closeness. He knew he would have to stall the ghost until he could think of a way to get to the other side. Teleportation was a possibility, but he had yet to try that across a ghost shield; and, knowing his luck, it would only bring pain and possible dismemberment.

The ghost only paused for a moment before backtracking to Danny. " _What do you require, young one?_ "

Thrown by the welcoming tone, Danny answered, "I want—why are you after the Ring?" The Halfa figured he would be polite since the ghost was humoring him with an odd fondness. He could not see their face but Danny figured the other was pleased with his tone and would be acquiescent.

" _Our King has gone without his belongings too long_ ," they began. " _Stolen, it is only right that they are returned to him. Is that not what a Hero as yourself would do? Right this wrong?_ "

Conflicted and removed from the situation outside, Danny did not know how to react. "I would…but these items that you are taking are dangerous and the guy they belong to is bad. But since you called him your king, then I guess you're one of Pariah's lackeys."

He was pretty sure that the ghost could see right through him. But why they were humoring him, he did not know and figured he would be better off trying to get the shield down. Vlad had to have had some password or…maybe a scanner.

" _He is_ OurKing _and I am no lackey though I serve him,_ " they corrected him while watching Danny take off his glove. " _I am His Messenger as I told you when we first met._ "

Danny faltered at the admission but then slammed his hand on the panel, hoping that Vlad's obsession with and hopes for him made the man put his hand print in all his security systems. As the shield dissolved, Danny found the closest and largest hole, zooming through it to get to the ghost on the other side. Caught off guard, the figure did not have the time to turn intangible or evade him and tumbled as Danny met his target.

Danny tried to overcome the ghost, but he was instead tossed away and landed solidly on the vault door. His head slammed against the hard metal and his vision swam for a bit. Danny righted himself for another attempt to fight the ghost as the figure's hood fell revealing a deep purple face and scorching green eyes.

The ghost cocked their head to the side and prepared to fight Phantom, shucking their cloak off as it disappeared and flexing their back muscles. Two sets of black and grey feathered wings unfurled from behind them. Clad in a loose tunic and pants that clothed their lithe figure under scaled armor, they gripped their sword tightly with their left hand, hesitant but ready. Clawed boots or feet, Danny couldn't tell, solidly touched the floor instead of floating as was per usual for their species. And their face was painted or scorched with swirling black lines which was accompanied with a flickering black mane, making them look like a lion.

He was so thrown by the ghost's appearance that he forgot to attack, staring at them instead. Their sex was not easily identifiable as they were completely nonbinary in appearance. But, even with their embellishments, Danny recognized them, or at least their presence, from somewhere.

"I…," Danny whispered, "I know you…"

" _I would hope so with how much we have talked, young one—_ "

Danny interrupted, "My name's Danny, not 'young one'. And I'm sure I would remember you with your…," he gestured. "But I don't know your name."

They blinked as if just then remembering that they could and nodded their head in agreement. " _I…I suppose I have not told you much pertaining to myself in your moments of consciousness. I was known by many names before the birth of your language. Some called me Papsukkal…others Nin_ _š_ _ubur, all depending on Whom I serve. I supposed the former will do, or Pazuzu if you like since you allow me to call you by your shortened name_."

Danny nodded his head and muttered off an okay, not sure where to go from there. Pazuzu mirrored his expression of foreboding confusion as they stared off.

" _Now, Danny_ ," they began, " _it is nice to talk to you at a time you will remember, but I must complete my task_."

Pazuzu moved to phase through the vault wall to finish his mission but Danny intercepted him.

"I'm sorry…Pazuzu," Danny said, "but I can't let you do that."

At the denial, Pazuzu weighed their options, ultimately deciding that if the boy before him could verbally deny him, then he could offer some physical resistance. The full ghost then sighed and grasped the hilt attached to his belt and pulled. The sword that it once was had transformed into a long staff nearly six feet in length composed of an indiscernible material so black that it absorbed the limited light around it.

" _It goes against my orders to harm you too much, Danny…but a spar would not be too bad as the mouth should not be so strong if the flesh is weak_."

They launched at Danny as the Halfa tried to form a shorter staff made of ecto-energy. The two met with a crash, sparks coming off the spot of contact. Danny grunted at the impact as Pazuzu smirked and pushed harder until Danny faltered. He had to jump back to avoid a sudden strike aimed at his lower half.

"Woah!" Danny exclaimed as the other did not relent, leaving no room for anything but defense. Pazuzu struck at Danny's torso, head, and legs and Dany had to meet every blow lest he be hit. And for every hit, the Messenger would chuckle and smirk a bit more.

Danny lasted for five minutes but faltered at a strike to his core, knocking the boy down and making his staff dissipate.

" _You lasted longer than most_ ," they complimented. " _But this needs to come to an end, boy._ " Running their hand over the staff, they transformed it back into the blade that cut through the shield, a blazing black pall resurfacing.

"Dude!" Danny yelled, scrambling to get away while catching his breath. He was too frazzled to use any high-powered moves or his Wail because even at a low setting, it could still bring the entire building down on them. And his control over his ectoplasm was beginning to slip. The interrupted meditation and odd attack at the base, the prolonged fight above, and the massive focus on trying not to get seriously hurt by Pazuzu had frayed his nerves.

No longer in the sparring mood, Pazuzu swiped and slashed at Danny, even at the younger's position on the floor. At every try to get out of the way, phase through the floor, or go invisible and escape, the ghost impeded Danny. Attempting to incapacitate him, they pushed Danny into a corner.

" _We should continue this at a later time, young one_ ," Pazuzu commented lightly as if he was not holding a weapon to Danny's neck. They held it loosely as they regarded the panting Halfa, shifting their hold in a second, digging a point into his neck. Danny eased his breathing so it would not harm him more, but ectoplasm still bubbled around the tip. Enough was drawn out for a thin line to roll down his neck. Danny winced slightly at a faint burning that started out the wound and felt like it spread to the rest of his body.

"Wha—no!" Danny exclaimed as he felt whatever was constricting his movement.

Pazuzu took the sword away and placed it back on their hip. " _But I need to complete my mission._ " They bowed slightly as Danny fought to move.

The vault that they turned to face had no outer anti-ghost defenses and Pazuzu easily phased through. Danny could do nothing but move his face slightly and cry out repeatedly as Pazuzu found the Ring floating in the middle of the room, surrounded by a pulsing field of green light.

As the ghost got closer, they could feel the pure power emanating from the object. Pazuzu knew that, if they were a lesser being, they would fall under the temptation to use the Ring for themselves instead of returning it to their King. But knowing that the power of the Ring could indeed end a being not capable of wielding its power or standing its influence, they encased it in a sphere of ectoplasmic fire, black from his own and strengthened by a bit of power from their liege.

They turned and left the vault, the sphere bobbing lightly behind them. Danny cursed at them as he saw them pass. But he could do nothing as the energy holding him there coursed through his body. Papsukkal paid him no mind and flew up, turning intangible the instant before they would have hit the ceiling. Leaving the screaming Halfa behind, they flew out of the building, witnessing the rest of the army being decimated by the humans.

 _Pathetic_ , they thought. The lost ghosts were merely cannon fodder; whether they were ended or not, Papsukkal did not care. The foot soldiers were nothing but mindless, bloodthirsty tools for their King to use. They abandoned the rest of the pitiful army and surged upward into the still open portal with the Ring by his side.

From the ground, the humans fiercely fended back the remaining ghostly invaders, making sure no one broke rank and that everyone had back up. As the fight dwindled, a few overachieving humans shot rounds off at the one ghost trying to flee while two people worried more about the glowing orb next to them.

The escaping entity barely moved to dodge any attacks that got close to them but did not bother slowing down. Once the ghost had reached the portal, they drew something from their waist and shot it into the Ghost Zone. With a boom even more raucous than the initial splitting, the edges of the portal burned black and began to rapidly shrink. More humans aimed and fired, either missing or doing no damage. Before the hole fully closed, the figure shot into the portal and disappeared.

Unsure about what to do, they waited with baited breath in case more enemies would resurface. But after a minute or two of silence, someone started cheering. That soon grew into whoops and elated hollers. There was no loss of life and very little destruction compared to the Japan attack. Those who were still injured could now be tended to and any damage done was to be catalogued and reported at first light. Everyone was accounted for except for—

"Jasmine!" Jack yelled over to where his daughter was running to the building.

Without turning around, she shouted, "Danny never came out!" She pushed open the doors, knowing her father would surely follow. "Be safe little brother."

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks all so much! I'm tryna get my life together and it's finally working out!**

 **DB-KT: Thanks for reading, love! And you'll find out veeerrry soon! Sorry for the year wait.**

 **Kimera20: I didn't know you're from Argentina! And I'm really glad you're reading this because your posts on tumblr were some of the things that've kept me going since the last time I did a big update! Thank you for so much!**

 **I love you guys and ask that you stick around for more or that you enjoyed if this was your first time!**

 **Love, JennaUtena. Deuces!**


End file.
